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I read somewhere that, if you get stranded somewhere and your last option is to eat some natural plants/fruits that you don't know, the rule was to take a small

I read somewhere that, if you get stranded somewhere and your last option is to eat some natural plants/fruits that you don't know, the rule was to take a small bite and wait for few hours. Most poisonous things would not kill you this way but will give you a hard time so you know it's not safe. Otherwise it's safe-ish to eat

Retra 10y ago
I remember a more incremental approach: 1. Mash it and hold in the pit of your elbow for an hour. If no irritation, go to step 2. 2. Hold it in your mouth for an hour. If no irritation, go to step 3. 3. Eat a bite and wait a few hours. If no irritation, go to step 4. 4. Eat a small amount and wait a few hours. If no irritation, it's probably safe to eat.
- athenot 10y ago
  It might be good to wait a few hours to a day between each step. Urushiol (Poison Ivy et al.) usually takes about 4-6 hours to start showing symptoms.
  - TheGrumpyBrit 10y ago
    "This man died of starvation" "But how is that possible? He's surrounded by fruit!"
    - coldtea 10y ago
      And apples at that!
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
    - pmoriarty 10y ago
      The rule of thumb is that you can survive: 3 minutes without air 3 days without water 3 weeks without food So you're probably not going to die without food if you go even for some days without it. In fact, many people regularly fast for days on end, some (such as people on hunger strikes) have fasted for weeks. Of course, all of the above rules of thumb are subject to modifications based on things such as the amount of physical exertion you're under, your health, the weather, etc. If you're doing lots of exercise in the heat, you're going to need a lot more water than if you're lying still in the shade.
- csl 10y ago
  Yep, that's a condensed version of the universal edibility test. It's on page 103 in the FM 21-76 US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL: http://www.preppers.info/uploads/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf http://www.preppers.info/uploads/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf
  - sleepychu 10y ago
    Step 1 reminded me of an amusing problem: - 16 bottles of wine, one has been poisoned. - poison takes 1 hour to kill you, party is in 1 hour. - you have 4 prisoners you don't mind sacrificing to find out which bottle is poisonous but obviously you'll need to do all your sampling now because otherwise you won't know which bottle not to use in time for the party. EDIT:16 not 17 bottles of wine.
    - 50CNT 10y ago
      Whilst this is a permutations problem, what parties need wine that much that you'd risk fatally poisoning people?
      - rocqua 10y ago
        Not people, prisoners. The point is to not poison the actual people attending the party, yet still give them wine.
        pvaldes 10y ago
        ... and as second goal, becoming a prisoner in jail some time later, for the cheap prize of some bottles of wine. This is the kind of problems that AI machines would try to solve, wrongly. Humans still score better understanding that some theoretical problems must not be solved.
        eveningcoffee 10y ago
        Apparently you failed the scum detector. Good luck in your future encounters.
        10y ago
- joss82 10y ago
  One exception to these rules. It will pass all your tests without causing any irritation but still kills you in the end: "There are no negative symptoms from eating this fungus until 6–24 hours after ingestion" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_verna https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_verna
  - seszett 10y ago
    Unknown mushrooms though, should really be your very last recourse, only if there's really, really nothing else to eat at all where you are.
  - kbart 10y ago
    Many mushrooms are toxic when raw (even the ones used for food), so you should better stay with fruit and berries.
  - mdturnerphys 10y ago
    The rules are for plants :)
pvaldes 10y ago
> Otherwise is safe-ish to eat Not necessarily. Plants aren't so stupid and there are poisons designed to catch you at the middle and long term. Peas have those for example. Better studying a little botany instead. Euphorbiaceae is a wery widespread family, relatively easy to recognize by its very specialized flowers. All are very poisonous and you can't eat it, but some of them can still be handy. Can provide you wit car tires, torches, fuel, killing your enemies and treatments for diarrhea, expelling worms and, as a nice special bonus, remedy for genital herpes. Yeah, they know what a real survivor needs.
- freehunter 10y ago
  Aren't the main uses for plant poisons/toxins being a defense mechanism for the plant? What evolutionary advantage does killing a predator hours after they killed you have? Seems most "smart" plants would try to be as painful as possible up-front, before they get eaten.
  - ryao 10y ago
    It would wipe out threats to the species.
  - pvaldes 10y ago
    This would work for organisms like us, but plants are organisms structured following a clonal design; can explore other solutions not available to us. And they need also some animal services.
- dimino 10y ago
  I personally am going to plan on never being in a situation where I have to eat random wild plants to survive.
  - franciscop 10y ago
    Not many people plan to be stranded in a random island/forest. But if you do, it's better to be prepared.
RUG3Y 10y ago
I learned a similar but more cautious method in a jungle survival school: Step 1: Touch the plant with your hand, wait 1 hour for negative effects to develop. Step 2: If step 1 produces no negative effect, touch the plant to more sensitive skin, such as the inside of your forearm. Wait another hour for negative effects to develop. Step 3: If step 2 produces no negative effect, touch the plant to the area around your mouth. Wait another hour. Step 4: After touching your mouth with the unknown plant and seeing no ill effects, chew up a tiny bite of the plant in your mouth and spit it out, and then wait another hour. Step 5: Ingest a tiny amount of the plant and wait an hour for negative effect. Step 6: If no ill effects are felt at this point, the plant is likely safe for you to eat. This is a very long and difficult process, but it's the safest way to determine if the plant will kill you. If you see a lot of one type of plant that you think you might be able to eat, it's worth the wait to figure out if it's poisonous or not. Once you've identified an edible plant, you can continue eating it without going through this process again.
- FreeFull 10y ago
  Another general rule is that milky sap typically is poisonous, and you should definitely avoid fruit that has milky sap. And of course, if it tastes bad, that's probably a good sign that it might not be edible either.
  - RUG3Y 10y ago
    Thank you, that's a good piece of advice that I remember hearing as well.
- pmoriarty 10y ago
  I'd wait a lot longer than an hour after sampling a little. Many poisonous foods take a lot longer than that to take effect. I'd wait at least a day after tasting a little. Also, often (always?) the poison's in the dose. A little might be safe to eat, more not so much. So I'd go really easy when eating something new.

Retra 10y ago

I remember a more incremental approach: 1. Mash it and hold in the pit of your elbow for an hour. If no irritation, go to step 2. 2. Hold it in your mouth for an hour. If no irritation, go to step 3. 3. Eat a bite and wait a few hours. If no irritation, go to step 4. 4. Eat a small amount and wait a few hours. If no irritation, it's probably safe to eat.

athenot 10y ago
It might be good to wait a few hours to a day between each step. Urushiol (Poison Ivy et al.) usually takes about 4-6 hours to start showing symptoms.
- TheGrumpyBrit 10y ago
  "This man died of starvation" "But how is that possible? He's surrounded by fruit!"
  - coldtea 10y ago
    And apples at that!
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - pmoriarty 10y ago
    The rule of thumb is that you can survive: 3 minutes without air 3 days without water 3 weeks without food So you're probably not going to die without food if you go even for some days without it. In fact, many people regularly fast for days on end, some (such as people on hunger strikes) have fasted for weeks. Of course, all of the above rules of thumb are subject to modifications based on things such as the amount of physical exertion you're under, your health, the weather, etc. If you're doing lots of exercise in the heat, you're going to need a lot more water than if you're lying still in the shade.
csl 10y ago
Yep, that's a condensed version of the universal edibility test. It's on page 103 in the FM 21-76 US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL: http://www.preppers.info/uploads/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf http://www.preppers.info/uploads/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf
- sleepychu 10y ago
  Step 1 reminded me of an amusing problem: - 16 bottles of wine, one has been poisoned. - poison takes 1 hour to kill you, party is in 1 hour. - you have 4 prisoners you don't mind sacrificing to find out which bottle is poisonous but obviously you'll need to do all your sampling now because otherwise you won't know which bottle not to use in time for the party. EDIT:16 not 17 bottles of wine.
  - 50CNT 10y ago
    Whilst this is a permutations problem, what parties need wine that much that you'd risk fatally poisoning people?
    - rocqua 10y ago
      Not people, prisoners. The point is to not poison the actual people attending the party, yet still give them wine.
      - pvaldes 10y ago
        ... and as second goal, becoming a prisoner in jail some time later, for the cheap prize of some bottles of wine. This is the kind of problems that AI machines would try to solve, wrongly. Humans still score better understanding that some theoretical problems must not be solved.
      - eveningcoffee 10y ago
        Apparently you failed the scum detector. Good luck in your future encounters.
      - 10y ago
joss82 10y ago
One exception to these rules. It will pass all your tests without causing any irritation but still kills you in the end: "There are no negative symptoms from eating this fungus until 6–24 hours after ingestion" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_verna https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_verna
- seszett 10y ago
  Unknown mushrooms though, should really be your very last recourse, only if there's really, really nothing else to eat at all where you are.
- kbart 10y ago
  Many mushrooms are toxic when raw (even the ones used for food), so you should better stay with fruit and berries.
- mdturnerphys 10y ago
  The rules are for plants :)

pvaldes 10y ago

> Otherwise is safe-ish to eat Not necessarily. Plants aren't so stupid and there are poisons designed to catch you at the middle and long term. Peas have those for example. Better studying a little botany instead. Euphorbiaceae is a wery widespread family, relatively easy to recognize by its very specialized flowers. All are very poisonous and you can't eat it, but some of them can still be handy. Can provide you wit car tires, torches, fuel, killing your enemies and treatments for diarrhea, expelling worms and, as a nice special bonus, remedy for genital herpes. Yeah, they know what a real survivor needs.

freehunter 10y ago
Aren't the main uses for plant poisons/toxins being a defense mechanism for the plant? What evolutionary advantage does killing a predator hours after they killed you have? Seems most "smart" plants would try to be as painful as possible up-front, before they get eaten.
- ryao 10y ago
  It would wipe out threats to the species.
- pvaldes 10y ago
  This would work for organisms like us, but plants are organisms structured following a clonal design; can explore other solutions not available to us. And they need also some animal services.
dimino 10y ago
I personally am going to plan on never being in a situation where I have to eat random wild plants to survive.
- franciscop 10y ago
  Not many people plan to be stranded in a random island/forest. But if you do, it's better to be prepared.

RUG3Y 10y ago

I learned a similar but more cautious method in a jungle survival school: Step 1: Touch the plant with your hand, wait 1 hour for negative effects to develop. Step 2: If step 1 produces no negative effect, touch the plant to more sensitive skin, such as the inside of your forearm. Wait another hour for negative effects to develop. Step 3: If step 2 produces no negative effect, touch the plant to the area around your mouth. Wait another hour. Step 4: After touching your mouth with the unknown plant and seeing no ill effects, chew up a tiny bite of the plant in your mouth and spit it out, and then wait another hour. Step 5: Ingest a tiny amount of the plant and wait an hour for negative effect. Step 6: If no ill effects are felt at this point, the plant is likely safe for you to eat. This is a very long and difficult process, but it's the safest way to determine if the plant will kill you. If you see a lot of one type of plant that you think you might be able to eat, it's worth the wait to figure out if it's poisonous or not. Once you've identified an edible plant, you can continue eating it without going through this process again.

FreeFull 10y ago
Another general rule is that milky sap typically is poisonous, and you should definitely avoid fruit that has milky sap. And of course, if it tastes bad, that's probably a good sign that it might not be edible either.
- RUG3Y 10y ago
  Thank you, that's a good piece of advice that I remember hearing as well.
pmoriarty 10y ago
I'd wait a lot longer than an hour after sampling a little. Many poisonous foods take a lot longer than that to take effect. I'd wait at least a day after tasting a little. Also, often (always?) the poison's in the dose. A little might be safe to eat, more not so much. So I'd go really easy when eating something new.