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Rusty Hinge 2 · 02-07-2008, 06:43 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Rusty Hinge 2 writes:
|
| However, tomatoes are much more closely related to black nightshade,
| whose berries are edible when ripe, in just the same way as green
| tomatoes are slightly poisonous, but on ripening, become free of the
| relevant toxin.
|
| Black nightshade berries are quite widely eaten on every continent
| except Antarctica, and I concoct a very passable ersatz blueberry pie
| filling with them, and some added sugar and tartaric (or ascorbic) acid.

Er, not quite. At one stage, I got interested, and did some quite
extensive poking around for information - including in scientific
papers.

I think we've had a similar conversation before...

Black nightshade is, indeed, widely eaten - but also causes quite
a lot of cases of (usually non-fatal) poisoning. Their toxicity or
lack of it may depend on the variety, the growing conditions, the
degree of ripeness, and their preparation. The scientists who tried
to identify what factors were important and the toxins wrote some
ambivalent papers and then seemed to move onto less confusing areas
of research.

I asked Kew, and they had no knowledge of any toxic issues.

I have though, spoken to many people, most of whom haven't any idea that
there *IS* something called 'black nightshade' and all too many of them
think woody nightshade is deadly nightshade.

There is a comprehensive ignorance in the minds of even countryfolk. I
wouldn't mind betting that if you showed a number of them a black
nightshade plant, the majority would say it was deadly nightshade.

| You *CAN* use citric acid, but IME it tastes of lemon.
|
| rant
|
| And it's added to most commercial jams, and ruins their flavour.
|
| /rant

Just think how sickly they would be without it!

There are natural acids in fruit, and the citric acid is added to set
the sugar without too much effort. Some jams (and marmalades) are so
hard that when you mine a lump from the jar and try to spread it on a
slice, the progress of the jam heaps-up a pile of butter before it.

Frank Cooper's Oxford Marmalade is a case in point. I unforget it how it
was when I was a young brat: proper marmalade, which could sneak off the
side of your toast if you were unwary. In order to make the modern block
of stuff usable, I have to heat it almost to boiling-point and add half
of its original volume of fluid. I nominate a cheap malt whisky (such as
Lidl's Glen Orchy), along with some (half a cup) thinly-sliced
crystallised ginger, pre-soaked in aforsaid malt.

OK, fair's fair, I buy it now simply because I can add so much whisky innit.

--
Rusty
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