Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 123
Results 41 to 57 of 57

Thread: Universal Edibility Test for Plants

  1. #41
    Primitive Hunter Jericho117's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Virginia Beach
    Posts
    285

    Default

    I will NEVER use this test, maybe not even in survival. Imagine if I were lost in the woods and I so happened to come across a patch of grass field, and I was beyond hungry (pretend I didn't know what I was doing), but, I knew how to carry out this universal edibility tests from some televison show or something. I find this plant that looks edible growing in the grass field, and now im so hungry I just apply the tests to this plant, and I end up trying a small portion of Water Hemlock...................... This never happened im just telling a possible situation. There are plants where one small portion of it can kill you. This is more SAS survival stuff, not primitive knowledge gained from experience. I don't know it's just my opinion.
    KILL OR BE KILLED


  2. #42
    Senior Member Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sri Lanka
    Posts
    450

    Default

    One thing I always stress to my students is to leave the mushroom strictly alone. Too many look alikes. Even so called experts have poisoned themselves. Besides in our jungles there are lots of other plants, roots, fruit, etc to eat.

    I had a bad experience with a grasshopper in 2006. symtoms appeared about a month after I had eaten it. (diarriah) went on for about 6 weeks. The doc traced it to some kind of bacteria??? found in the grasshopper. Had to take massive doses of antibiotics. Funny thin is I had eaten these grasshoppers plenty of times before. Cant figure it out.
    Walk softly upon the earth!

  3. #43
    missing in action trax's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    yonder
    Posts
    6,809

    Default

    only eat grasshoppers that are wearing little tiny rubber boots on their little tiny grasshopping legs cuz then you know they practiced safe grasshopping.
    some fella confronted me the other day and asked "What's your problem?" So I told him, "I don't have a problem I am a problem"

  4. #44
    Senior Member wareagle69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    northern ontario
    Posts
    4,201

    Default

    well in my humble opinion i beleive that if you prepare properly then if you find yourself in a situation you will have the basics down pat then you will not have to experiment in your time of need, the situation will be stressful enough, so prepare now people and make your life easier.
    always be prepared-prepare all ways
    http://wareaglesurvival.blogspot.com

  5. #45
    Senior Member Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sri Lanka
    Posts
    450

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by trax View Post
    only eat grasshoppers that are wearing little tiny rubber boots on their little tiny grasshopping legs cuz then you know they practiced safe grasshopping.
    Trax, One of these days I'm going to invite you over here and.............
    Walk softly upon the earth!

  6. #46
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    I don't care how well you prepare you can always find yourself in unfamiliar surroundings with a simple stroke of bad luck or a slight lapse in judgement. I agree with WE that preparation is essential but you could still find yourself in unfamiliar flora.

    When I was in Arizona this spring I realized I had no knowledge of desert plants. I hadn't thought about it but suddenly realized if something bad happened I had no idea which plants were edible and which weren't. I know I probably wouldn't have been out there very long but just knowing the UET would have given me some options that I otherwise wouldn't have had if bad turned to really bad.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  7. #47
    Senior Member Ole WV Coot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Southern WV , raised in Eastern KY up a holler
    Posts
    2,668

    Default

    If you aren't positive what you might have feed it to your hungry "friend" first and watch him closely. I may not have much variety but it will be safe.
    Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he's too old
    to fight... he'll just kill you.

  8. #48
    Primitive Hunter Jericho117's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Virginia Beach
    Posts
    285

    Default

    Good idea- my friend tyler trusts me enough I might just give him something I have no clue about........
    KILL OR BE KILLED

  9. #49
    Senior Member erunkiswldrnssurvival's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Smoky Mountain National Park
    Posts
    1,651
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    The Bitter Sweet Nightshade is one of those deadly plants . some plants make good pest control but I dont know if the niteshades are among those.
    God lives in the Mountain, Serve the Master, The Mountain also serves the Master. Serve the Mountain,
    The Mountain Breaks you.
    http://www.youtube.com/trapperjacksurvival
    http://s567.photobucket.com/albums/ss113/erunkis

  10. #50
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    11

    Default

    Couldn't you just ask the plant politely if it is poisonous?

  11. #51
    Senior Member nell67's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Southern Indiana
    Posts
    7,725

    Default

    Hey Ben,I don't think that would work,not many plant whisperers around ,ya know?Plants don't just talk to anyone.

    how about heading over to the intro thread and telling us a bit about yourself?
    Soular powered by the son.

    Nell, MLT (ASCP)

  12. #52
    Senior Member wareagle69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    northern ontario
    Posts
    4,201

    Default

    this thread has been on my mind for a spell, i have revised my ways of seeing this test, while i have not changed my mind about learning as much as you can about the area you are in or are going to i now see this test as a system that i like to use.
    I have in the last few years become accustomed to learning about plants and more recently learning about plants by identifying a certain part of the plant to point me to the family it belongs to, to help id it. Lets look at mustards, there are no poisonous plants in this family and if you understand what to look for in this family then i will test a plant that i have not fully identified but have identified the family that it comes from.
    So in conclusion i see this test as not just something that is used overseas but also in the local wilds, learning botany is fun.
    Last edited by wareagle69; 05-13-2010 at 09:42 PM.
    always be prepared-prepare all ways
    http://wareaglesurvival.blogspot.com

  13. #53
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    Good post, WE. Another application. Nice!
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  14. #54
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    31º4.3'N, 84º52.7'W
    Posts
    3,969
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default

    Botany is terrific fun! There is so much to learn right here in my very own yard, it's practically impossible to get bored at my house.
    I would say the test is reliable to some extent, BUT you need the information that WE pointed out. Being able to place a plant in a family will let you know something about it's edibility. Some families you don't mess around with, and there are lots of plants like poison ivy that won't cause a reaction for hours. There are a handful of safe plant families, but I have to say there are more unsafe families. Tomatos and Nightshade are in the same family. Wild carrot and poison hemlock are in the same family... Don't go taste testing solanacea or apiaceae family plants and if you don't know the characteristics of those families, I recommend not taste testing period! It might look like a tomatillo, or a carrot, but are you contradictoraly confident??

    It came up in a discussion a few days ago with my co-worker. He pointed out that he really didn't know just how many different plants were around here until I started learning about plants. Now he doesn't just see oaks and pines, and weeds, but different resources and dangers.

    Personally, I treat any plant that I don't know as if it were poison hemlock, or a loaded gun. Assume it can kill you and you'll not be a victim.
    Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. Helen Keller

    My Plants
    My skills
    Eye Candy
    Plant terminology reference!
    Moving pictures

  15. #55
    Senior Member wareagle69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    northern ontario
    Posts
    4,201

    Default

    i agree YCC, not to run around willy nilly just tasteing plants at random, but i also see that there are some plants and even mushrooms that i have not had a positive id on but still ate (or tested0 bolete being one mushroom, not sure exactly which bolete it was but i do know it was one, same as a weed in my flower bed right now, it is a mustard, can't find which one it is right now, time will tell, but i am doing the test on it, that is what i have revised in my thinking, not as mentioned to just try plants at random.
    One thing i have noticed and i'll use mullien as an example, when talking to people about its leaves, most assume it is unsafe because of the hairyness of it, scared to touch it afraid it might sting or something, that is one example of why i am not worried in a shtf scenario of people coming to the country and eating all the food, but i digress, don't want the point to be about that, just about the UET
    always be prepared-prepare all ways
    http://wareaglesurvival.blogspot.com

  16. #56

    Default

    I will eat plants and mushrooms I've not ID'd to species, but only if I have ID'd them to family and am certain they are not a poisonous species within that family.

  17. #57

    Default

    Well I'll reply and perhaps that will make it easier for kathrynthegardener to find this thread....
    As I stated in the thread KTG started.....

    IMO there is no "safe" edibility test that I am aware of.(Although some books and sites say there are) If someone tried an "Edibility test" on Poison Hemlock, there would be no further tests needed. Poison Hemlock is so poisonous that people have died from blowing on a whistle made from the hollow stem. Knowledge of the most easily identified and abundant species in a given area is the only Safe way to go.
    Yes I know military manuals give that info, as well as some who have written books that were ex-military giving the "Rules" for the "Edibility Test". Keep in mind this test was for soldiers in a hostile environment that were possibly E&E- ing from an enemy that wanted to catch or kill them. Their life would already be at risk, and energy to get out of that environment was what would be important. For the Majority of people to use the Edibility test would be as a LAST RESORT ONLY(IOW You're gonna' die if you DON'T eat). I was once a soldier too, and when I thought I might be going to an area I would try and research a few of the potential plants. I did this for potential countries I might be visiting as well. Another thing is a plant that you THINK you know, could appear totally different in another country. In Honduras we were bivouacked in a fruit grove that we THOUGHT were Grapefruit..... they weren't, they were Lemons! Also one part of a plant could be totally safe and another part poisonous.(Like Cashews) Heaven Forbid you chose the wrong part.
    Last edited by Pocomoonskyeyes3; 02-08-2011 at 01:27 AM.
    Because a survival situation carries an aura of timelessness, a survivor cannot allow himself to be overcome by it's duration or quality. A survivor accepts the situation as it is and improves it from that standpoint. Prologue from Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •