No, we’ve got dodgy stuff here as well. Smilax and Bryonia fake asparagus fan here - I’ve made the self test this year and it turns out you can eat a lot of the young shoots. There are many plants you can eat when they are young that later turn toxic.
Haha yeah I was wondering if that could be the case. Truly have very little knowledge of European foraging aside from those plants that exist on both continents.
I’ve never heard of Smilax being toxic though. Is that true? I’ve eaten it many times. In fact it’s probably the first non-normie plant I ever ate and part of what turned me onto foraging.
Not sure if Smilax aspera (the variety growing here) is toxic, and Smilax glabra (the sarsaparilla used in Chinese medicine and producing beverages) is not. Or if in both, just the berries are toxic. I’ve also found that often a plant deemed toxic on one continent is consumed in another, and that young shoots of toxic plants sometimes can be eaten safely. All this has changed my perspective on toxicity a lot. The available information can be confusing, and changes sometimes.
I’m a french forager and today is the 3rd (fourth?) day in a row that I’m eating cherries. I love foraging (* __ *)
