Produce > Edible Plants

edible, but poisonous

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aquilegia:
Strange title, I know, but I couldn't think what to call it...

But I was thinking of plants that are partially edible, partially, poisonous.

Like how come rhubarb stalks are edible, but the leaves are poisonous?

And is it true that green potatoes are poisonous? Why?

I know parsley is related to something deadly that Socrates (or was it Plato) took to commit suicide.

Are there any more like that?

Garden Manager:
Hi Aquilegia

Green potatoes are poisonouts because (i think) that with the green comes a chemical that disagrees with us.  Not that its realy bad, not like the fruits of the potato plant which you sometimes get. They are really poisonous.

Think of the potato's relative the deadly nightshade.

Then again its strange since we eat the fruit of another relative the tomato  ???  ???

Strange world huh?

allotment_chick:
Weird isn't it......and (as an aside) how did our ancestors know what might be good to eat and might not (observers of nature, I guess?).  That works for things we eat raw, but how did people start to cook?  Was it an accident?  Did Mrs Caveperson drop a spud on the fire?  ?  Fascinating...

AC

Palustris:
The deadly poson swallowed by the Greek philospher was Water Hemlock, which just looks like parsley and is deadly dangerous. Many plants which we eat are poisonous in their wild forms, though mostly mildly so.

Tenuse:
Lots of edible mushrooms picked from the wild, e.g. Morels, have to be boiled first to get rid of the mild poisons they contain!

Ten x

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