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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] What's safe to eat and what isn't

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] What's safe to eat and what isn't
  • Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 08:50:33 -0600

At 09:54 PM 11/30/2004 -0500, Ginda wrote:

 The other red fruit I wouldn't try is deadly nightshade.  (Some plants have black berries, but many have attractive red berries.)  I've read of people who cooked the ripe berries into pie and ate it without harm.  And I expect that like tomato (to which it is related) the toxins in the fruit break down as it ripens.  Still, personally, I would avoid it
Ginda,
We've discussed the 'edible' Solanum species here from time to time in the past.  Several of the garden seed catalogs offer "Garden Huckleberries" - usually S.melanocerasum, and/or 'Wonderberries', which encompass a number of species, but if memory serves me correctly, Lon has indicated that S.burbankii is the best of the bunch.
I've grown S.melanocerasum in the past, and the plants produce prodigious amounts of beautiful big (1/2-3/4") blue-black berries - but even after following preparation recommendations of boiling/leaching, and treatment with baking soda - and addition of large amounts of sugar & grape juice(these things have no taste to speak of on their own), the resulting jams, pie filling, etc., still had an uncomfortable metallic aftertaste that was quite disconcerting.
I've seen Lon write encouragingly about the flavor of S.burbankii, right off the plant, but I've got some other acquaintances who've grown them and thought they were awful - maybe their seeds were not true to identity?

Along those same lines - of unusual edibles, sometime back I was drawn into a discussion/search for a source for "Germanberries", which turned out to be a species of Hibiscus, which produces an edible pod.  Never have tried 'em, but here are a few links, if anyone is interested:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MV126
>
> http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html
>
> http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Hibiscus_sabdariffa.html
>
> http://www.echonet.org/tropicalag/plantinfo/Hibiscussabdariffa.pdf
>
if you want some, the seeds of that hibiscus may be ordered
http://echonet.org/shopsite_sc/store/html/SeedtoSeed.html

Lucky




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