Yew Berries

[filcon]

Made a silly mistake last week whilst out on the forage at a big estate near Ayr, I ate some yew berries. We had a good day foraging 8lb plums,6 bags of apples and 4lb sep mushrooms.
Can,t remember which programme we were watching a few days ago but the tv presenter described the yew berry as poisonous.
So I checked up this site http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/wfsberries.htm, well bu993r me.
Fortunately I never eat the seeds and the jelly outside was quite nice at the time,never again.

phil

 

[Stuart69]

Lucky escape there mate. I've done a bit of reading about yew berries in the last week since Shewie and I were looking at them on our Loch Lomond trip, they can be nasty wee things.

great link you posted there, thanks for that.

 

[Shewie]

I was munching them at Middlewood last weekend, my favourite foraging treat at the moment.

 

[Toddy]

............ my favourite foraging treat at the moment.

Mine too

cheers,
Toddy

 

[treadlightly]

So its only the seeds that are poisonous, not the berry itself?

 

[Tadpole]

berry sweet tart nice, (and plentyful) pips contain the poison.

 

[Gill]

Are yew ok wee fella, first dibs on yer camper van .

 

[Geoff Dann]

So its only the seeds that are poisonous, not the berry itself?

The whole plant is highly toxic (leaves, seeds, bark, roots) except for the red flesh of the berries. You should also avoid eating any fungus which is growing on yew, including species which are usually safe to eat.

 

[dwardo]

Mine too

cheers,
Toddy

eyewww... sweet yeah but snotty texture

 

[Melonfish]

eyewww... sweet yeah but snotty texture

see people say things like this and i have to ask, have you actually eaten snot?

yew berries, yet to try them tbh but i'm looking forward to it.

 

[Geoff Dann]

see people say things like this and i have to ask, have you actually eaten snot?

Everybody eats snot, all the time.

 

[Mojoracinguk]

I thought my nose was bleeding.....but it's snot!
(oh i could not resisst....shoot me down if you have to)

Mojo

 

[Grooveski]

Anybody tried making fruit leather from them?
There's something about their squidgie sweetness that has me thinking it might turn out nice.

 

[addo]

see people say things like this and i have to ask, have you actually eaten snot?

Every time I get a cold, cant be helped And yeah they are similar to snot, but taste nice.

 

[iamasmith]

Anybody tried making fruit leather from them?
There's something about their squidgie sweetness that has me thinking it might turn out nice.

Probably not a great idea to concentrate any small amounts of Taxine which may be in the juice like this. Remember there is still no specific antidote for Taxine poisoning.

 

[Retired Member southey]

does any know if the processing required for a friut leather would destroy the stuff that gives me little upset tum when i eat them, I love em but like i say I get a very mild reation in the form of loosness in my passings(how polite am I) for the day after I munch,

 

[Toddy]

There are recipes on line for yew berry tarts, so they can be cooked successfully.
I don't think of them as mucousy, more like a kind of soft jelly. Like jelly jam
They're brilliant when it's freezing though and they're firmer.

cheers,
M

 

[marcusleftthesite]

Had some for the first time a couple of weeks ago.Theres a very nice tree growing in the grounds of the slate museum in Llanberris.They have to be the tastiest berries I've ever tried.

 

[Tengu]

Nasty sticky sickly things. Not my thing

 

[Nonsuch]

The seeds are incredibly poisonous. I heard a story of a girl who was eating yew berries and spitting out the seeds but one seed caught against a tooth with a crack in it and she was in a coma for days. I believe one seed will kill you

NS