[Freckles]

HI There,

Spotted this wonderfully healthy looking green leaf growing in our hedge, tempted to say its spinach and cook it and eat it, but I did not plant it so bit cautious.. .. anyone know what it might be???

Thanks in advance

[tippben]

Don't eat it! "Arum maculatum" aka "Lords and Ladies". It's poisonous.

[Freckles]

[tippben]

Nobody should every eat something that they can't positively identify. Even then, only try a small amount. I once gave some "chicken of the woods" mushrooms to some friends. 4 people were fine, and really enjoyed it. Two thought it was delicious, but they had an extreme allergy/intolerance reaction to it, and had to be checked out in hospital. I hadn't given them anything poisonous, they just had a rare reaction to it. Always try a little bit first before you eat a big dinner full of it.

[Freckles]

[Good guy]

So many of the plants we grow are poisonous, it would be hard to have an interesting garden without them.
My own approach has been to show children, once they are old enough, some things that can be eaten - raspberries, blackberries, radish, peas, etc. and to tell them that on no account should they eat anything I have not approved for consumption.
I've then often shown them other things which might look similar - hawthorn berries, rose hips, laburnum pods etc and explained that even though they might look 'a bit the same' they would make them very ill indeed or they might even die. So far, this approach has worked well. The 'precautionary principle' is a good one to install.
Children too young to understand this should not be left unsupervised in a garden, anyway.

[tippben]

Perhaps we should start a "wild edible/wild deadly" thread. I use Francis Rose's "Wild Flower Key" for greenery and flowers, and Roger Phillips' guide to fungi. It'd be great for people to know which things will make them sick, which will kill them, and which plants and mushrooms are really good to eat and how to identify them. I have no scanner, so it'd have to be a communal effort.

As far as children go: don't eat anything. Unless I give it to you. I start with blackberries. They are the ONLY berries that aren't poison. If you break a plant that has milky sap, wash your hands quick, or you'll go blind if you get it in your eyes. If it's green, it's probably tastes like spinach or cabbage, and it's almost certainly poison, so don't eat it. NEVER eat mushrooms unless I've picked them and checked them.

Unless, I show you how to "grasp the nettle", how to make string from the stems and then make creamy soup out of it with crusty bready and bacony bits on the top. One step at a time, for kids or adults. In addition to learning foraging skills, they end up learning botany, cookery
and mycology at the same time.