What is the Edibility Test?
This is a universal test to see if a plant is edible.


Why waste my time with this?:
Food is going to run out, and unless you have loads of seeds, your screwed. Even if you do have seeds, growing is a very hard thing to do, unless you KNOW what you are doing, you will kill the plant, wasting time/seeds/water/soil etc. So you need this to test nearby wildlife plants.

What are the steps of this test?
1. Test only one part of a potential food plant at a time.
2. Separate the plant into its basic components - leaves, stems, roots, buds, and flowers.
3. Smell the food for strong or acid odors. Remember, smell alone does not indicate a plant is edible or inedible.
4. Do not eat for 8 hours before starting the test.
5. During the 8 hours you abstain from eating, test for contact poisoning by placing a piece of the plant part you are testing on the inside of your elbow or wrist. Usually 15 minutes is enough time to allow for a reaction.
6. During the test period, take nothing by mouth except purified water and the plant part you are testing.
7. Select a small portion of a single part and prepare it the way you plan to eat it.
8. Before placing the prepared plant part in your mouth, touch a small portion (a pinch) to the outer surface of your lip to test for burning or itching.
9. If after 3 minutes there is no reaction on your lip, place the plant part on your tongue, holding it there for 15 minutes.
10. If there is no reaction, thoroughly chew a pinch and hold it in your mouth for 15 minutes. Do not swallow.
11. If no burning, itching, numbing, stinging, or other irritation occurs during the 15 minutes, swallow the food.
12. Wait 8 hours. If any ill effects occur during this period, induce vomiting and drink a lot of water.
13. If no ill effects occur, eat 0.25 cup of the same plant part prepared the same way. Wait another 8 hours. If no ill effects occur, the plant part as prepared is safe for eating.

Another thing you can do is rub it on your skin. If it doesn't affect your skin, place it on your tongue, then remove it. If it does nothing to your tongue, it.

NOTE: Allergies can and will mess up results, so if you get an allergic reaction, have another person test it. Also some plants have edible parts only certain times of the year, so unless you know what/when, and you're in the wild, test it every season or month to recheck edibility. Example: Cattail

NOTE: Mushrooms, and carrot family plants SHOULD NEVER BE EATEN or TESTED THIS WAY.
Mushrooms can look like edible ones, then be deadly. Also note, this is for plants that you already deemed safe (New page soon)