Edibility Test

From [email protected] on behalf of Dr AF Bourbeau

An edibility test, to be logical, has to work with the most poisonous plants on the planet. This means you don't want to die from testing the plants, nor be seriously ill. I think this test answers these criteria. Before I go on, though, I would like to inform you of the circumstances which would warrant using this test- of which I can only think of one. The only time you would need this test is when there is a very abundant plant available which could provide you with sustenance if it was edible, and you did not have access to information, such as on a lenghty trip. For example, on a month-long walkabout I did in the far north, I wanted to know if a very abundant weird looking orange berry was edible or not- looked to me like it was from the Rubus genus, so I decided to test it over a period of a few days. It ended up being delicious and comprised a great many of my deserts from then on. But if the berry had been extremely poisonous, I would not have been harmed by the following test suggested by William E. Harmon.

WARNING! DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS UNLESS YOU ARE AWARE OF COMMON POISONOUS PLANTS AND ESPECIALLY COMMON POISONOUS MUSHROOMS.

1. Touch a small piece of the plant to the inner forearm and wait an hour for reactions. If none, proceed.
2. Rub the plant on your inner forearm and wait an hour for reactions. If none, proceed.
3. Touch a small piece of the plant to your tongue and then spit. Wait an hour for reactions. If none, proceed. So far we would have eliminated Jack in the Pulpit or other plants with calcium oxalate crystals, plus most plants causing skin reactions.
4. Take a 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch by as-thin-as-you-can-slice piece of the plant in your mouth, chew it and then spit. Wait an hour for reactions. If none, proceed.
5. Swallow a 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch by as-thin-as-you-can-slice piece of the plant. Wait twenty-four hours. If no ill effects, proceed.
6. Swallow a 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch piece of the plant. Wait twenty-four hours. If no ill effects, proceed.
7. Eat a cubic inch of the plant. Wait twenty-four hours. If no ill effects, proceed.
8. Repeat step 7.
9. The plant is probably edible.

However, some plants, such as gyromitra spp. mushrooms, contain cumulative poisons, ie, eat a little it's OK but after eating a lot, you get sick. Again, this test is useful once you already know at least some characteristics of the plant in question. I have used this test successfully on several occasions, but I always tested plants I knew at least something about botanically. For example, I successfully tested unknown species of Russula mushrooms, Hypomeces mushrooms, Clavaria mushrooms, several unknown berries from the some known families, but I sure as hell wouldn't try anything from the potato family (Solonaceae), which contains deadly nightshade, or from the amanita mushroom genus, which contains the death angel etc.