eating wild watercress

[Ben Rigsby]

hi WABs

assuming you have permission to take it, is one safe (or safer) from the risk of liver fluke if you only take and eat the foliage of nasturtium officianale that has been unsubmerged for some time such as the flower heads and top leaves from later in the year?

thanks in adv for your response,

ben

[ceterach]

Originally Posted by Ben Rigsby

hi WABs

assuming you have permission to take it, is one safe (or safer) from the risk of liver fluke if you only take and eat the foliage of nasturtium officianale that has been unsubmerged for some time such as the flower heads and top leaves from later in the year?

thanks in adv for your response,

ben

Hi Ben

Wash the snails off and you should be fine at any time! I hope!!

All the best

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by ceterach

Hi Ben

Wash the snails off and you should be fine at any time! I hope!!

All the best

I can see why we on the Fungus Forum has a rule excluding discussion of edibility . . . .

the above, I'm afraid is not only flippant, it is very dangerous advice.

Having infected the snail, the larva develops until it is ready for the next stage of its life when it develops into multiple cercaria (Trematode lifecycle stages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) which leave the snail host and attach themselves to plants growing in the water such as grass or watercress, where they encyst. The life cycle is completed when the plant material is eaten. The encysted cercariae come to life in the gut, migrate through the gut wall and travel to the liver where the adult fluke develops.

My advice would always be if you want to eat wild watercress make (well-cooked!) soup.

Chris

[Ben Rigsby]

tks chris. so the cyst is still viable even if unsubmerged over time then.
thats a bit of a xexexexexexe.

by the way im shocked that discussing the edulity of fungi is taboo!
people WILL (and increasingly) want to eat wild mushrooms and it seems irresponsible not to have and pass on such information.
esp given the dangers of say, mistaking a panther cap for a blusher.

man has always eaten mushrooms. we are part of nature and not aside from it.

ben

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by Ben Rigsby

by the way im shocked that discussing the edulity of fungi is taboo!
people WILL (and increasingly) want to eat wild mushrooms and it seems irresponsible not to have and pass on such information.
esp given the dangers of say, mistaking a panther cap for a blusher.

man has always eaten mushrooms. we are part of nature and not aside from it.

ben

If you do want to eat fungi, advice from an unknown on the internet is not a good basis to judge edibility. Find a local expert you can trust. HSBC is telling me that it will close all my accounts next week, but since I don't have any, I think there may be some people on the internet who are liars, possibly some who are malicious and also some who know less than you might think (this is not directed at anyone on the site).

On an unrelated topic, got any beans you want to swop for a really good cow?

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Ben Rigsby

by the way im shocked that discussing the edulity of fungi is taboo!
people WILL (and increasingly) want to eat wild mushrooms and it seems irresponsible not to have and pass on such information
ben

Far from it (and don't forget some people consume fungi for other purposes, which - and I'm not making judgments here - are technically 'toxic'

I know people who react very badly to shop-bought mushrooms

I have shared meals at which some people had bad reactions to fungi (well known wild "edible" species) which others at that meal (including me) ate with impunity

The decision of the moderators on the Fungus Forum was not a knee jerk reaction - it was arrived at by seeing the sort of posts which were appearing on the forum

There are other, less responsible, websites which will be much less rigorous in their advice; Wild About Britain will always err on the scientific and the cautious

That is far from irresponsible - would you want to be the person responsible for someone's organ failure or worse (look back earlier on this very thread)

Meta Menardi is spot on - don't trust the internet! there are people out there who would like you to commit suicide for heaven's sake!

I lead fungus forays and will on those occasions happily talk about what can and can't be eaten, I'm not against it - and I am taking personal reponsibility for such advice; but when you can buy a punnet of perfectly tasty chestnut mushrooms at the supermarket for £1 why take risks?

Chris

[Deb London]

Obviously don't trust a decision to eat something based on what you read on the internet. Surely that goes without saying. But on the subject of watercress, I also have always assumed (based on my reading) it is NOT safe to eat in its raw state, as picked from the stream. Sorry.

[Wild-Woman]

I'm pretty chicken about eating food from a source thats not passed rigorous health tests to be honest. The way I see it is if you bought watercress from a British watercress farm, you be keeping the farmer going and enjoy it knowing its safe. I love watercress but I wouldn't risk liver-fluke for anything.

[The Woodman]

When I saw this thread I was keen to post a reply basically saying that I eat wild water cress on a regular basis. I went to see my favoured local supply stream two weeks ago to see if it had started shooting but no luck - too early.

I hesitated to reply at the time due to the potential of encouraging a harmful acitivity. I've always thought about fluke and take steps to gather mine from a source where no sheep graze upstream and where I can guarantee the cleanliness of the water.

When I lift the roots of a growing plant from the substrate they are teeming with insect life, I like to see Gammarus shrimp as it gives me some comfort as it likes unpolluted water but don't depend on this bio indicator. I never pick sub surface shoots, only the emerged shoots that have occassionaly only the shucks of trsnsposed stone flies and the like.

Ask your local vet about the prevalence of fluke in your area.

On the other hand and I have no supporting information at this moment, I believe farmed cress is treated with chemicals to prevent insect attack. This might be illustrated by the fact that the Watercress Alliance promote organic and conventional cress, see The Watercress Alliance

I've been eating wild cress for donkey's years with no ill effects. I'm not going to advocate doing it on WAB because there are too many variables but one thing's for sure, a sandwich with cheese and packed with freshly picked wild cress is one delight I look forward to.

[Ben Rigsby]

thanks for the responses and your thoughts members.

regards to all,

ben