25 Foods That Can Be Poisonous If Not Prepared Correctly
I read an article on a news site about foods people commonly eat that can be poisonous if not prepared correctly. While some of them were exotic foods (?) like live octopus – which very few of us will ever encounter, many of them are common foods that most of us have enjoyed. Unfortunately, I didn’t bookmark the article, but I was able to find the source for it and to recreate the article to share with you.
It is wild how many everyday foods in our pantries and grocery aisles are perfectly safe to eat most of the time, but can trip us up under the wrong conditions. From natural chemical defenses to improper preparation, raw flora and fauna require a little extra respect in the kitchen. Here is the complete breakdown of 25 common foods that demand careful handling.
Red Kidney Beans
Eating just 4 or 5 raw or undercooked kidney beans can trigger severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea within a few hours.
Potatoes
When exposed to light or stored poorly, potatoes produce chlorophyll (turning the skin green) and solanine, a natural glycoalkaloid compound meant to ward off pests.
Rhubarb
While the tart pink stalks make incredible seasonal pies and jams, the large fan-like green leaves are packed with oxalic acid. Consuming rhubarb leaves can lead to severe kidney damage, acute kidney stones, or systemic poisoning.
Tomatoes
Like their potato cousins, tomato plants belong to the nightshade family and contain alkaloids called tomatine and solanine throughout their green structures. While the ripe red fruit is completely safe and delicious, avoid using the leaves, stems, or vines in culinary broths or sauces.
Nutmeg
In standard baking pinches, this spice is perfectly benign. However, consuming large amounts at once introduces high levels of myristicin, a psychoactive organic compound. Eating roughly 2 teaspoons or more of ground nutmeg can cause severe dizziness, hallucinations, tachycardia, and a multi-day hangover-like illness.
Elderberries
These popular immune-boosting berries contain cyanide-inducing glycosides in their seeds, raw stems, and leaves. Never eat wild elderberries raw. They must be thoroughly cooked and strained to destroy the chemical defenses before ingestion.
Cashews
The “raw” cashews at your grocery store aren’t truly raw — they’ve been steamed. True raw cashews are surrounded by a shell containing urushiol. The Risk: Urushiol is the same chemical compound found in poison ivy. Handling or eating truly raw cashews can trigger severe, life-threatening allergic skin and internal systemic inflammatory reactions.
Lima Beans
Just like cassava roots, raw wild lima beans contain cyanogenic glycoside compounds as a natural line of evolutionary defense. In the United States, commercial varieties are strictly regulated to maintain safe baseline levels. However, they must always be cooked thoroughly without a lid so volatile toxic gases can freely escape.
If this piqued your interest, be sure to visit this special site pick – there are many more eye-openers on that page, which comes to us thanks to the generosity of the Kitchen Safety Guide.