Today I’m going to be covering a simple “Tolerance Test” to make sure that your body doesn’t react adversely after you eat wild food plants.
As my old mentor used to say: “Assume Nothing, Test Everything”
Even though you might have identified a plant with 100% certainty, until you eat a small sample of it, you do not know how your body will react.
This isn’t scare mongering, but it’s just a fact that some people have very negative reactions to certain food stuffs due to an allergy or some such. You won’t know if you have an allergy to a plant until you try it, which is why you must not start out consuming large amounts of a specific plant until you know how your body reacts.
WARNING! Do not eat any wild edible plant unless you are 100% certain of its identification.
Too often people talk about wild food plants using their English names. This is fine if the participants all understand exactly which plant is being talked about, however many times English names are used when it would be far better to make certain that the plant being discussed is referred to by its Botanical/Scientific name (Latin).
What is referred by one English name in Devon may differ in another part of the country, and due to the global nature of the Internet English names become confusing once you start communicating cross-borders.
Rule 1: Always make certain when talking about wild food, that you are clear on the Botanical name, that way there is very little room for doubt. For example the English name for Taraxacum officinale is Dandelion, and the Botanical name for Dandelion is Taraxacum officinale. Well I did want to make that clear 
Rule 2: Make absolutely certain that you have made a 100% positive identification before ever trying out wild food.
Rule 3: If you are in the slightest bit of doubt about a plants identification, do not try it. There are too many other plants you can try out. As the adage goes “If in doubt, find another plant”.
Rule 4: Assuming you are 100% certain you have the right edible plant in front of you, proceed with the “Tolerance Test”…
- Take a small piece of the raw edible part of the plant (e.g. the tip of a Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) leaf. Put it in the front of your mouth and bite on it a few times, then spit it out. Wait for 60 minutes. If you experience no bad reaction, proceed…
- Now try a larger piece of the plant (edible part only!). In our example of Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), try boiling the leaf and eating and swallowing a quarter of it. Wait for 60 minutes and see how you feel. If you don’t experience any negative reaction, proceed…
- Try a tablespoon amount mixed into a suitable recipe. If you do not experience any negative reaction after 60 minutes, you’re body should be OK consuming that specific wild edible plant in larger quantities. But go slowly.
IMPORTANT! The “Tolerance Test” is only to be tried on wild edible plants that you are 100% certain you have identified correctly. It is not to be used to test unknown, unidentified plants, that you are attempting to discover whether they are edible.
Only ever eat wild edible plants that you have 100% identified correctly, and never, ever, eat large quantities of wild edible plants that you have not performed the ‘Tolerance Test” on.
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Hi,
I’m trying to find out more about foraging safety issues in terms of land / water contamination. For example – eating Reedmace shoots from water within farmland – what are the risks in terms of chemicals or livestock? Ditto for watercress (someone told me recently that if you rinse it really well and inspect it thoroughly, the liverfluke isn’t an issue). Also interested in other location based toxin issues such as roadside foraging…
Many thanks!!
Toni
A lot of foraging has to do with common-sense when it comes to the problem of pollution. You need to be asking yourself, “how is this bit of land farmed?”, “what pesticides, if any, are being used?”.
I also need to point out that if you are foraging on private farmland that you don’t own, you’re going to need to get the permission from the land owner.
When it comes to watercress on farmland, personally I will always cook it to kill any potential liver fluke threat. I think your friends advise is well intentioned but misguided.
As to roadside foraging, again, use common-sense. Not all roads are the same. A motorway is different to a deeply rural country lane.
Please can you tell me if there is a poisness plant that looks like Rocket
because I am very afraid that I may have eaten some . I have a serious problem with my ankles . I need proof ! please help .
Can you please give me the Latin/Botanical name of the species you are referring to? Rocket is too generic.
Also in future please do make sure that you are ALWAYS 100% certain of the identification of any plant BEFORE you put it in your mouth and eat it.
I think i have found a wild plum tree (Bullace – Prunus Domestica) in the hedgrow at the bottom of my garden. i was checking the wild blackberry bushes to see how the fruit was developing when i spotted a tree with an abundance of dark pinky purple fruit reminiscent of Plums. the fruit is small that the commercial plums you purchase ( approx 3 to 4 cm long) and has a cloudy purple skin. i have cut one of them open and there is a stone inside. How can i found out if they are edible? i would like to make some jams and chutneys and not let them go to waste.
Sara: I do not answer questions regarding the identification of plants anymore. It is simply too difficult and dangerous to ID via an e-mail message. Please visit your local library and get out some good ID books, so you can develop your own identification skills). If you’d like to learn about wild edible plants in a small group, please visit my foraging courses page… thanks.