How to process plum kernals

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Spirit fish

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Aug 12, 2021
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This is a extract from "survival skills of native california" a book I highly recommend iv often wondered if plum kernels were edible and what a good resource they could be if I knew lost knowledge anyway here goes..... Large quantities of wild plum(prunus ilicifolia) known as hollyleaf cherry or islay who's shiny holly like foliage crowds the canyons and chaparral of southern California, were gathered by the cahuilla in august,according to barrows.The fruits were spread in the sun until the slight pulp,which could be eaten fresh ,had shrunk and dried.Then the thin shells of the large pits were easily cracked and the kernels removed.These nut meats were pounded in the mortar,like acorns and leached in a large shallow basket of thin branches covered with carefully selected sand.As with acorns the meal was spread over a depression in the sand and water poured through it .With the poison removed ,the Cahuilla boiled the meal into mush.
 
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Kadushu

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Jul 29, 2014
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Interesting. The difference is that poorly processed acorns will give you the gut ache but poorly processed plum kernals can kill you.
 
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Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
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Kent
it's fascinating I wonder if this is applicable to uk pr unus ie s loes cherry plums ect
They contain various levels of cyanide, that's for sure. I remember a guy being hospitalised after eating cherry kernels a couple of years ago. I recall a story of Roman soldiers poisoning a well with cherry laurel or Portugese laurel (which are both Prunus sp.)
 
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Spirit fish

Banned
Aug 12, 2021
338
73
31
Doncaster
They contain various levels of cyanide, that's for sure. I remember a guy being hospitalised after eating cherry kernels a couple of years ago. I recall a story of Roman soldiers poisoning a well with cherry laurel or Portugese laurel (which are both Prunus sp.)
I wonder if I leached the nuts in a stream for weeks pulverized then roasted what the outcome would be ? Purely hypothetical but interesting nontheless
 

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