Are Crinodendron seeds edible? (with pics)

[inishindie]

Hi

We had a party at the house the other day. One of our relations noticed our crinodendron bush was seeding and having never seen them, cracked a pod open and tucked into the seeds. I tried one myself and they were sweet and juicy. I was wondering if anyone knew if these seeds are recognised as edible or if we should pop down to the poisons unit.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/ ... ndron1.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/ ... ndron2.jpg

Cheers

Ian

[Silver Ether]

Well according to wikipedia they are related to lily of the valley and I have always believed them to be poison... see second link. I would never eat a berry in fact any plant unless I was sure it was safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinodendron_patagua

http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/wfsberries.htm

[Ellendra]

Just did a quick search, didn't come up with any mention of it being edible, but I also didn't find warnings about it being highly toxic. If you only ate small amounts you'll most likely be ok. But, in the future, DO NOT eat plants unless you know what they are and how edible it is. There are some deliscious-looking plants that will kill you with one bite.

[Shirley]

I agree with Ellendra.. foraging.. etc.. is great.. I love getting food for free, but if you are not sure.. then just don't do it.

[DominicJ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_cap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroying_angel

Eating something then asking if its safe is a quick way to get yourself killed. In all seriousness, in the three hours it took for a response, your liver could be killed.

[inishindie]

Hi

Thanks for the concern and the photo's of fungi DominicJ.

I was inspired to write my weekly article on the matter. I thought I would post it........

BERRIES OR BERRIED

“Here, try one of these” Nicola smiles as she passes me a ripe berry from the pod of a crinodendron tree in our garden, “They taste rather sweet”. The seed is dark brown with a soft white coating and looks like a pale version of a pomegranite seed. I duly pop it into my mouth, roll it around my tongue and swallow. “I didn’t know that these were edible.” I comment in a trusting manner. “Neither did I…. are they”? Nicola replies quizzically.

I enjoy trying new foods, but I am a bit wary of the unknown, more so since my five year old son started eating lupin seeds, after enjoying a summer of popping peas into his beak. This innocent act resulted in a desparate call to the poisons help-line and an anxious couple of hours wait on all systems alert watching for vomiting or other symptoms which would precipitate a mad rush to A and E.

Now Nicola is well trodden gardener and a family relation of ours and is up visiting from Dublin for a short while. “They taste sweet and edible and nature has a way of telling us if something isn’t for eating. Inedible seeds and fruit are bitter”. Nicola continues with the confidence of a person that has survived in the wilderness for years. “Let’s have a look around your garden to see what else we can eat.” She takes me by the arm and leads me down the garden while I discreetly check my temperature and wonder if my glands are swelling.

I know there are tasty treats in the garden, we picked a few wild rasberries which are very safe and the blackberries are a winner with everyone and very distictive, so no ambiguity there. “Rising food prices may make foraging a cheap way to keep the fridge full”. Nicola is telling me. “There are hundreds of plants growing in the wild which can be safely eaten raw or made palatable by cooking. Most people know what a stinging nettle looks like and try to avoid them, but eating the cooked leaves fills you with iron”. Nicola has found one of the the patches of nettles in the garden. “Nettles are best eaten when young in a soup - older leaves can have a laxative effect though so you know where to come if you are blocked up”. She happily tells me waving a stem under my nose. “The London diarist Samuel Pepys spoke of enjoying nettle pudding in 1661 so it’s not a new thing.”

I am begining to realise that Nicola has been studying the art of foraging for food.
“What can you do with these?” I ask her as a test, pointing to the rose bushes. “The Victorians used rose petals to add delicate flavours to their food but it is not done much now.” she replies instantly. “Most petals can be used for decoration but give them a good wash and don’t take them if they have been sprayed with chemicals.” Nicola warns as we venture further down the garden.

“Look at that dandelion,” she says pointing to a small victim in the crazy paving. “You can eat every part of the plant, though I wouldn’t fancy the fluffy seed heads, mind you you can use them for lighting the campfire”.

I am intruiged. Has Nicky been hiding in the woods all summer, living off the land? Nicola cuts into my ponderings.“The roots can be eaten like carrots and the leaves can be used in salads but are best picked in cool seasons or from shaded areas or they could be bitter. Dandelion is also used to make wine and there is the old dandelion and burdock drink. You can also roast the roots to use as an alternative to coffee if dried and chopped”.

“So what else is edible”? I ask. “Well”. Nicola pauses as her head turned in true Excorsist style to survey the area and then contuinues. “That wild rose hip is a great source of vitamin C. Hawthorn berries can be eaten, but I think have a nasty aftertaste, then there are sloes for your gin. Rowan (mountain ash) berries can be made into jelly and the Wesh make an alcoholic drink called diodgriafel that is supposed to be very tasty.”

“Hey this is good stuff, I might write about it for my article this week” I tell her.

“Well” she cautions, “you might want to add a disclaimer and probably a few words of warning. The common elder has edible berries but some people can react badly to them.”

“What else should I warn about” I ask her.

“Yew (Taxus baccata) seeds are regarded as one of THE most poisonous and deadly. I remember seeing a gardener suck on the red flesh and spit the seed out, but this isn’t to be recommended. The inner brown-black seed is deadly poisonous and must not be eaten.” Nicola warns. “There are loads of others, Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) from the hedgerows. Holly berries can be very nasty; Ivy has black berries that are very toxic”. Nicola turns her attention to a hypericum we have in the garden. “These plants have pretty berries too and are used in medicine, don’t try this at home though. The dogwoods you have are poisonous too”.

We are at the end of our walk. We have eaten marigold flowers and sorrel leaves, a few sunflower seeds and a plum like fruit from the red fuchsia bush. And, as suggested by Nicola, a few words of warning to protect myself in these health and safety mad times.


NEVER take any chances with berries.
If you do not recognise a berry as being one of the edible ones
DON'T PUT IT ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR MOUTH.


PS. Crinodendrons are part of the Lily of the valley family and classed as poisonous.

Cheers

Ian

[Ellendra]

“They taste sweet and edible and nature has a way of telling us if something isn’t for eating. Inedible seeds and fruit are bitter”.

WRONG!!

Sugar is nature's way of storing energy, it is NOT nature's way of saying "Here I am, eat me!" (There are exceptions, but it is not the rule)

There are many plants which are quite edible, even though they are bitter.

There are others which taste sweet, but are highly toxic.

Please, do not gamble your life like this!

[Rod in Japan]

Trial and error with potentially poisonous plants, with visits to hospitals doesn't seem awfully sustainable behaviour to me...

Just as a side note, nettles may fill you with iron, but being filled with iron isn't necessarily desirable either. Iron is implicated in a lot of maladies. Nutritionalism of that sort may be making a lot of people ill.

[d36csr]

I think the above posts are a bit alarmist. Sure, take care, but the risks as I understand them aren't as high as these guys are making out.
For a start I know of no "deliscious-looking plants that will kill you with one bite" which is native to the UK which doesn't taste foul (fungi are not plants and everyone knows not to go around biting chunks outa them willy-nilly).
What single berry, that Inishindie could have eaten, was DominicJ thinking of when he wrote "In all seriousness, in the three hours it took for a response, your liver could be killed."?
Filling fruit full of sugar is not "nature's way of storing energy", at least not for the plants own use. The sugar in fruit is there to attract things to eat the fruit. That doesn't nescessarily mean that all fruit is safe for human consumption, as the plant may have some other species in mind.
Yew berries are delicious and safe (see below).

Yew berries:

Yew berries are delicious and safe. Ken Fern of Plants for a future used to feed them to his then 4 year old son, although that's maybe a bit too young even from my point of view! True, the single large seed contained in the fruit is very poisonous, but you would have to chew and then swallow it in order to absorb any of it's poisonous constituents. I've swallowed the seed by mistake on several occasions without any problems. You couldn't really chew and then swallow the seed because merely grazing the skin of the seed results in a flavour reminiscent of chewed paracetamol!


Blue skies, Ben