Question about the weed Pampas Lily-of-the-Valley

 

I have a question about the edibility of the fruit of Pampas
Lily-of-the-Valley (Salpichroa origanifolia).

For general illustrations and description see:

http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/DPI/Vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/weeds_herbs_perennial_pampas_lily_valley

Understandably most of the entries produced by Googling  have the
Exterminate! Exterminate! theme of the Daleks.

I want to know whether I can eat the berries before exterminating.

W.T. Parsons and E.G. Cuthbertson in their Noxious Weeds of Austgralia
(2001) state that: ""The fruit is sometimes used in preserves and is
sold in the markets of Argentina and Paraguay for this purpose."

Unfortunately I have an earlier edition of this book (by Parsons
alone), which does not describe Salpichroa.

I have looked at the Google scan of the 2001 edition. 'Further
Reading' for this entry is on page 609, which is not included in the
Google scan.

Can somebody tell me whether the further reading on p.609 points to an
entry on edibility?

 

On Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:40:04 +1100, Richard Wright wrote:


Which isn't instructions on preparation. As someone explained about
certain palm fruit, "they are all 'edible', the catch is in the
preparation", e.g. some can be just roasted in a fire, but
others required months of soaking/leeching.

If you want to understand, try "lupini" beans. {:-). They AFAIK will
not kill you, but unless they are prepared properly......... they are
definitely NOT the taste sensation you are led to believe.

 

On Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:27:41 +1000, terryc


Thanks, but that's exactly my point in asking!!!