[h=4]Universal Edibility Test[/h] There are many plants throughout the world. Tasting or swallowing even a small portion of some can cause severe discomfort, extreme internal disorders, and even death. Therefore, if you have the slightest doubt about a plant's edibility, apply the Universal Edibility Test (
Figure 9-5) before eating any portion of it.
1 | Test only one part of a potential food plant at a time. | | | | 2 | Separate the plant into its basic components - leaves, stems, roots, buds, and flowers. | | | | 3 | Smell the food for strong or acid odors. Remember, smell alone does not indicate a plant is edible or inedible. | | | | 4 | Do not eat for 8 hours before starting the test. | | | | 5 | During the 8 hours you abstain from eating, test for contact poisoning by placing a piece of the plant part you are testing on the inside of your elbow or wrist. Usually 15 minutes is enough time to allow for a reaction. | | | | 6 | During the test period, take nothing by mouth except purified water and the plant part you are testing. | | | | 7 | Select a small portion of a single part and prepare it the way you plan to eat it. | | | | 8 | Before placing the prepared plant part in your mouth, touch a small portion (a pinch) to the outer surface of your lip to test for burning or itching. | | | | 9 | If after 3 minutes there is no reaction on your lip, place the plant part on your tongue, holding it there for 15 minutes. | | | | 10 | If there is no reaction, thoroughly chew a pinch and hold it in your mouth for 15 minutes. Do not swallow. | | | | 11 | If no burning, itching, numbing, stinging, or other irritation occurs during the 15 minutes, swallow the food. | | | | 12 | Wait 8 hours. If any ill effects occur during this period, induce vomiting and drink a lot of water. | | | | 13 | If no ill effects occur, eat 0.25 cup of the same plant part prepared the same way. Wait another 8 hours. If no ill effects occur, the plant part as prepared is safe for eating. | | | | CAUTION
Test all parts of the plant for edibility, as some plants have both edible and inedible parts. Do not assume that a part that proved edible when cooked is also edible when raw. Test the part raw to ensure edibility before eating raw. The same part or plant may produce varying reactions in different individuals. | |
|
Figure 9-5. Universal Edibility Test.
Before testing a plant for edibility, make sure there are enough plants to make the testing worth your time and effort. Each part of a plant (roots, leaves, flowers, and so on) requires more than 24 hours to test. Do not waste time testing a plant that is not relatively abundant in the area.
Remember, eating large portions of plant food on an empty stomach may cause diarrhea, nausea, or cramps. Two good examples of this are such familiar foods as green apples and wild onions. Even after testing plant food and finding it safe, eat it in moderation.
You can see from the steps and time involved in testing for edibility just how important it is to be able to identify edible plants.
To avoid potentially poisonous plants, stay away from any wild or unknown plants that have--
- Milky or discolored sap.
- Beans, bulbs, or seeds inside pods.
- Bitter or soapy taste.
- Spines, fine hairs, or thorns.
- Dill, carrot, parsnip, or parsleylike foliage.
- "Almond" scent in woody parts and leaves.
- Grain heads with pink, purplish, or black spurs.
- Three-leaved growth pattern.
Using the above
criteria as eliminators when choosing plants for the Universal Edibility Test will cause you to avoid some edible plants. More important, these criteria will often help you avoid plants that are potentially toxic to eat or touch.
An entire encyclopedia of edible wild plants could be written, but space limits the number of plants presented here. Learn as much as possible about the plant life of the areas where you train regularly and where you expect to be traveling or working. Listed
below and later in this chapter are some of the most common edible and
medicinal plants. Detailed descriptions and photographs of these and other common plants are at
Appendix B.
