fern tubas contain fluid... is it safe to drink???

[trekkingnut]

i saw a video of this american lad pulling up the wee tubas that were growing at the root base of some ferns and he was squeezing them and seemed to be getting a few drops of water out of them...

is this country specific or do we have something like that in the uk?

did a quick search but couldnt see anything about it on the forum...

J

 

[xylaria]

The liquid in Japanese knotweed is nearly pure water. It is clean to drink with a slight rhubarb taste.

Bracken and ferns I would not eat or drink from. I think some species are carcinogenic or poisonous. I will lookit up. In the states they eat fiddle necks which are seasonal delecy, were as in europe the only culture use I know for ferns is a worming treatment.

 

[xylaria]

Ferns are huge groups of plants. For such an ancient group there seemingly quite a divide between edible new world species and dodgy old world ones. The root of and shoots of the north American sword fern can be cooked and eaten with no ill effect, and are even sold canned. There are quite a few species which are eaten from north America which are safe. Bracken fronds are also eaten, but contain carcinogens , hydrogencyannide and it lowers b vitamins to dangerous level. Eating bracken fronds would probably kill intestinal parasites there aee certainly a historic usage of using fern roots and shoots as a purgative and worm tonic in europe. There are safer modern drugs and much safer herbs for this.

 

[Toddy]

I know of bracken fiddles as being a famine food. They also cleared out intestinal parasites as a Spring Cleaning....like the Tansy cakes

M

 

[trekkingnut]

thanks for the replies!!!

guess the only thing left to do is go and grab some out here in the jungle, squeeze the juice out and then pay the clinic to test them for nasties...

did that with the spring we found on our land, comes straight out of a rock, they said it was 100% clean water! its now connected to a long drain pip and permanently runs through the kitchen! fresh water all the time!

boom!

 

[Pterodaktyl]

Funnily enough I just got back from a trip to Malaysia, including Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) where the local restaurants serve up a dish called "midin". This is the fresh shoots of a local fern species fried up with garlic and shrimp paste, very tasty!

 

[trekkingnut]

Funnily enough I just got back from a trip to Malaysia, including Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) where the local restaurants serve up a dish called "midin". This is the fresh shoots of a local fern species fried up with garlic and shrimp paste, very tasty!

ive eaten that a lot in sarawk and kalimantan! it is DELICIOUS!!! especially when you are out in the jungle and you pick it straight from fresh and straight into the pot!