Black nightshade group identification (within Nightshade family): 1. ✓ Tiny white flowers with yellow anthers 2. 💜 Fruits dark purple at maturity 3. 👯♀ Fruits come in clusters, not single 4. 🍃 Calyx does not extend far past fruit edge 5. 🚫 Lacks sharp spines or prickles You can learn how to easily recognize the Nightshade (Solanaceae) family here - ua-cam.com/users/live6yesaVeDj0g
Thank you!!! Finally a mainstream foraging video from someone who isn't fear mongering about Black Nightshade! I've been foraging & eating the berries raw & also making jam from them for years...for myself only because EVERYONE believes the negative info, regardless of info like you presented, and the fact that it is an important fruit in many cultures. I'm in S Central Ohio and had an interesting group of volunteers appear this year- American Bittersweet, Oriental Bittersweet, Atropa and Nigrum! Once you actually SEE them (in person or in an excellent video like yours), there really is no way to misidentify Nigrum. After years of research and foraging them, I didn't realize that there were different cultivars though! So, thank you for going over that! From your pics, I'd probably have to id mine as Retroflexum because it has a low, creeping growth habit and delicate thin stems. Am I correct? Finally, thank you for doing the next video on Pokeberry! I intentionally plant them in a beautiful border around my porch. I use them for so many things- early pan fried shoots, Poke Salet, a root medicinal (RESEARCH this folks!!!), a berry ink & dye, and a beautiful privacy wall! Just a wee warning- If you have an town weed ordinance or a picky landlord, you may have to show them proof that it isn't 'just a weed'. Happy foraging & growing!
They aren't called wonderberries for nothing when you get them in their domesticated form😊 The name doesn't come from the nutritional value though, rather it comes from the fact that when main crops fail this plant will grow in the baren fields providing an alternative food source during famine. Also the blue tomatoes you can get now come from out crossing the tomato with the species and then a lot of back crossing to get the gene in and then a lot of follow-up breeding to get the pigment gene to duplicate and build up again. I was one of the people who was growing out these plants for years while it was being worked on though I never got one that was a step for that I needed to send back It was still a fun project to be part of. If you look through the scientific literature, most scientists believe that the majority of plants in this group are going to be fully edible with the fruit is ripe and it will be fine but because we do know occasionally there are members in the group that can be toxic it's important to keep that in mind when trying something that isn't well proven so they generally recommend only eating the fruit from seeds that are from a lineage of plants that have been in cultivation for a while. It's not because it's likely that they're going to be poisonous but basically a liability thing. There are tons of food around the world that science hasn't had time to do a full toxicity evaluation of and people are always going to be a little bit more wary of anything that hasn't been officially analyzed yet, but that doesn't mean that those foods are unsafe. It just means it's an unknown.
Goji, a nightshade, has been celebrated as superfood by the Chinese for thousands of years. After I took a handful of fresh goji berries each day for a few days my vision miraculously improved. Goji is also said to aid longevity.
THANK YOU!! I’ve been eating these delicious berries for years! They’re sort of considered a weed where I live in NE Florida. I never talked about eating them because people think I’m just ridiculous because I forage and transplant edible or useful “weeds” in my yard rather than flowers from Lowe’s (that the deer love to eat!) I also love your video on the Golden Rod jelly! I actually keep a strong golden rod tea in my fridge and use it for a super sleep aid! It puts my to sleep so quickly and I usually drink it in bed, just 1/3 of a cup with honey and within 10 mins my eyes lids drop. Might not affect everyone like that but does me tgat way. Thank you for your wonderful, informative videos! I love your content!
I grew up eating things from the field and mountains. I'll not go out of my way to forage for the black nightshades, but if it is on my way, I'll still pick it as they are okay.
Lowe's is a rip off. I take flowers people throw out in the fall and either bring them back or collect seeds. I have had a garden for years and have only spent money on a little soil here and there. I have never purchased plants. If you can get fruit by foraging instead of buying it then that's a good thing. If people think you are ridiculous then you're talking to the wrong people.
They are so much better than tomatoes because they come back every year all by themselves (minnesota) perfect addition to a permagarden. Thank you for this video!!
In South Africa, we call it Msoba and we make a delicious purple jam of it. I enjoyed it so much, that I developed a nightshade intolerance and now can't eat tomatoes, aubergine, peppers or potatos, without getting severe inflammation in my joints.
Yes,lots of people are effected that way… I love eggplant,but,can feel a restriction in my throat after a couple bites,so,I’m thinking I’m a bit “allergic “ and don’t want to push my luck… I’m guessing I will need to be very cautious with this berry as tomato and bell peppers can trigger a migraine,too…. No problem with potatoes,it seems…🤷♀️
I really want to thank you for this video! I was exposed to nightshade when a pair of brothers got my mom interested enough to grow some and make a batch of wine from the berries. I was about 6 or 7 at the time. The amount of hesitancy to finally try the wine is best explained by the fact that it was the last batch of wine they (my parents) opened after we had moved and brought it with us. This means it was years after she made it, probably 2-3. Nobody had any health issues from drinking it, but that superstition stopped it from ever being made again. I've had them come up wild in my yard. I allow them to grow, and when I have time to, I gather the berries and freeze them for use later. See, I learned that solanine breaks down if it's cooked. I, until watching this video, was still cautious, despite loving the plant and it's association to my childhood. While I'm still going to use the frozen berries for jam, or something, I'm thrilled to know that I can eat them straight off the plants!!! I cannot thank you enough for this newfound 'freedom' regarding such a maligned plant. Thanks!
Those look exactly like the Huckleberries I grow in My garden! I planted them once from seed & have never needed to plant them again, as accidental berries fall & come back every Spring!😃🌱
I have consumed many pounds worth of huckleberries and not one of them looked like black nightshade. Do a quick google image search of huckleberries, and you will see.
True huckleberries are Gaylusaccia or some western Vaccinium species in the heather family, basically wild blueberries (though Gaylusaccia has 10 larger seeds, so it is grittier than a blueberry). "Garden huckleberries" are a marketing term for a species or hybrid in the Solanum nigrum complex, useful because as an annual, it is quick to produce fruit from seed (blueberries will probably take 5 years?) and as a non-Ericaceous plant, doesn't require highly acid soil. "Wonderberry" (developed by Burbank) is basically the same.
TIP: You can buy Ground Cherry (Pruinosa type) seeds to grow. They produce a whole lot of fruits and will easily reseed in a weedy open area or field. They begin producing fruit as soon as the plants begin branching at 6 inches in diameter. They can grow 8 to 10 feet wide and low across the ground. Earwigs and tomato worms were my two worst pests but animals like raccoons & possums love them. Next year I plan to grow a lot more of them.
My mother-in-law had deadly nightshade plants growing through a thorny bush in her yard. She didn't get rid of them because she liked watching birds eat the berries. She made sure we knew not to eat the berries, and showed us how to recognize the plants. Her husband was afraid to touch the plants, thinking he would get poisoned by just the touch. The flowers are a beautiful color purple.
Holy cow! I've eaten deadly nightshade berries. Just two berries, but still. I was three quarters starved out in the wood and I saw these delicious looking black berries and decided to try them. Since I'm not a complete dummy I only tried a couple. I ended up calling them 'Thunder berries' because they didn't taste good and gave me tremendous.. tummy trouble. I didn't eat any more.
I am thankful you are ok. My cousin lost her beautiful 3 old years ago. She was airlifted to childrens hospital. After several days, she died. This is a plant people use in landscaping. Children eat berries.♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️
If you ever do decide to try things when your out in the woods, do not eat the bright red thing that looks like a cluster of pomegranate on a stem. It has little razor shards that will burn your mouth and throat. It feels like glass. I tried one, only the tip of my tongue, but it was diabolical. there are lots of edibles in the woods at different times of year, the more you're outside, the more you'll identify. For instance, during summer there's these red berries with a thistley red looking vine, it's a wine berry. Delicious, juicy, tart red berries.
@@FeralForaging ...be "aware" that you "can" also experience adrenaline and cortisol release from consuming toxins / inflammatories, and certain range of dose of poison... The effect is that your body picks up on the "begining" of the cascade and mounts full out adrenaline and cortisol response ---- WHICH: relieves ALL manner of inflammation from other toxins or diseases that you have ...so you will FEEL GREAT, NEVER BETTER and even "more alive" than you've ever felt in a long time... So what is the problem? ...that your body's "great response" does not "stem/stop" a good portion of the damage occuring, but rather suppresses the *response*/*inflammatory response* i.e. suppressing the immune response, blunting pain sensation, even modifying leptin and grehlin... In the short to medium term? Adrenal Fatigue. Medium to Chronic term: too much to list. This is just one of many things people are confused about with the idea of "detoxing" AND "Hormesis" ...you can and many do create a "Hormetic Fatigue" ..for example the majority/85% of people who try to go vegan and felt great in the first few months or more, but by 3 years stopped being "vegan" due to "major health issues".. EDIT: I had to learn it the hard way too. So experience can teach us what we ignored..
Great video mate. I've been eating the fruit for years. They do vary in flavour somewhat depending on the soil and species but are always yum. I deliberately encourage them in my yard and have taught my kids how to identify them so I don't have to buy as many berries from the shops! I'm in subtropical Australia so they fruit most of the year here until it gets really hot at the height of summer of a little chilly in the middle of winter where they just slow down really. Great fruit. They were originally introduced to Australia by Chinese gold miners in the 1800s as a vegetable!
Thank you for clarifying between the different species. I grew up eaten various wild berries, where later on my friends were horrified. You just have to KNOW ! So you're teachings being here is wonderful for people ! On another note, in my family, were different members suffer from different autoimmune ailments or disorders, one of the big dietary triggers is the nightshade family of produce like tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes....so not all rumors or old wives tales are false. With that said, i also believe in what the great god Apollo said to his sister Artemis, "Everything in moderation....even moderation !" So, eat what ya like and just don't over do ... anything !... and you'll reap the benefits and your metabolism will filter out the negative.
My whanau (family) wash and boil the leaf and stems with beef or pork or lamb/mutton. We call the plant "poroporo". We also prepare dandelion the same way.❤
I'm not sure, but you may be getting confused with Solanum Aviculare vs Solanum Nigrum. I eat loads of Poroporo when I can find them, but they have a much larger plant with purple flowers and are yellowy-orange (when ripe) about the size of your thumb. I've never heard Nightshade referred to as Poroporo here in the East Cape (mostly Ngāti Porou).
I'm delighted to see this video, as I came across some black nightshade two weeks ago on a hike near Durango CO, and mistook it for deadly nightshade. Add this to my local foraging options!
I love making "garden huckleberry" (black nightshade) pie around Halloween. The process is amazing. It starts purple-black when cooking the berries. Then, adding baking soda while cooking the berries causes it to foam green.
Very good video on Black Nightshade !! I've been growing witching herbs for 8 years.. such as atropa belladonna ... one of my very favorite plants to grow as a hobby !! love your channel !!
@@EddieTheHtry putting them in the freezer for a month. Then soak them over night in warm water. Keep them warm and damp for fourteen days. Oh, and get some fresh seeds.
@@swatson1190 I did try freezing them but I only gave them about 2 weeks. I've struggled to find fresh seeds, all I can seem to find is Colubrina. I've just stuck some more in the freezer 🤞 Thanks for getting back to me!
@FeralForaging, I used to have both black and bittersweet growing in the cracks of my parents' driveway decades ago, on the west coast of Michigan. I grew the black in small pots as an ornamental, believing my plant books, that they were inedible. Now, I can't find any to bring home to grow! Horsenettle grew at mom's old place inland from Lake Michigan, and I have some of its berries to try to grow. My yard is a NWF-Certified Wildlife Habitat in Knoxville, TN, so I encourage and intentionally plant Native species of whatever will grow, for the beauty, and the wildlife benefits. I tried to get the first two above to hybridise, as they flower at the same time, but it never succeeded, that I could tell. The bittersweet was originally half a block from my parents' place, overlooking the beach, in full sun, very windy. I assume birds brought them there. Anyway, thanks for sharing all these facts. I saw your poke video, btw. Before you, I had never heard anyone call poke salad "poke sallet." Same root word, it turns out, only the latter is for cooked, rather than raw greens, so technically you are right, but I won't be "correcting" anyone around here. P.S. I hope you do a video on kudzu. The young leaves are very nice, cooked, the flowers are edible, and if it ever makes pods, the beans are edible, as is the starchy storage root. I encourage everyone to eat hell out of that misplaced "green carpet of death" vine.
I have lost control of my black nightshade collection in my backyard 😅 (Same with volunteer tomato plants, physalis plants and tomatillo plants). They are popping left and right, in the lawn, in the garden, in pots, because of birds, squirels and the wind. Sometime I don't even know what they are but I let them grow and eat the berries when they are ready. I also have amongst the "normal" ones a variety that ripens green and an other that ripens a bright yet translucent orange. 🍅🥔🤤
I love these. I grow them on purpose. They are great fresh, as sauce and dried like raisins. you are right, people just about go bonkers if you tell them you eat them. Just Other fun comments: Horse Nettle is also called Silver Nightshade in my area. It is super common and annoying. FYI: We do have a wild Nightshade in my area that I can't remember the name right now that has edible fruit and it is covered in thorns, including the fruit and you have to remove the thorn casing to get to a fruit that's red when ripe, but it's not worth your time and it's hard to find. I do love our native wolfberries and ground cherries though. I'm originally southern and I didn't know prior to the birth of the internet that people didn't eat Poke. It's delicious. I even remember Allen canning company selling it in the store. It's a shame people have lost so much knowledge of wild edibles.
Well.. @13:30 now I’m sure I can’t eat the berries growing in my yard.. I’d says for a couple years I was pretty certain it was Belladonna/deadly nightshade, but honestly I was getting a little excited watching this, thinking maybe what I had was edible. No, those beautiful purple flowers are unmistakable. I have deadly nightshade in the yard, but I basically already thought that, and already call the plant “Bella”, so I’ll let her stay. Edit: nope, I’m wrong.. Bella is a bittersweet nightshade, and I DID mistake those purple flowers. However, we have a couple plants with purple flowers that look very similar to the Belladonna, so I think I’m just twisting it all in my mind. “Bella” definitely has the flowers that look like the black nightshade, and I have seen the red berries, though usually animals eat them before they really mature.. Damn, I thought I had the real thing. When I was a child, my great aunt did have a real deadly nightshade, and she called it/them (she had more than one I think) “Bella”, which is why I named mine. She was from the old country, still had an accent, and I guess somehow she must have brought seeds or berries from Italy, bc it was the real deal. I don’t remember all this super well, it was 30+ years ago, I just remember my mom telling me they were poison, and my aunt in her accent saying, “Bella is beautiful, but she dangerous, she hurt you, no touch or eat!” Anyway.. maybe I’ll call my plant Bitter Bella, or something now. I’m rambling. This was cool though!
I have two giant plants of these growing great in the back thanks to my dog. Don't plan on eating them but i'm glad you made this video so I can properly identify them cause I wasn't sure because of searches giving misinformation.
Friends from Southern Mexico told me they make salsa with these little berries. So I had them taste the ones growing in my yard, and they were very surprised that the berries were not bitter like the ones they are used to eating. The ones in my yard are sweet. In Southern California.
I love them! I put them in a pasta salad with pimp tomatoes. The little red and black berries looked and tasted great. I also made them into a pie, and I've had them as a jam. I love the jam, it's my favorite way to eat black nightshade.
Wonderful video on a topic that was on my mind. There are black nightshade plants that have grown along a hiking path that I frequent. They grow side-by-side with blackberry plants. Both are hardy, surviving even in low precipitation. The dry weather produces only a few tiny, tart blackberries, often hard to reach among the thorns, but the black nightshade seems to thrive, producing abundant fruit within easy reach. My mother pointed them out as edible, but when my research identified the plant as "nightshade" I have been less than enthusiastic in picking and eating them. Thank you for the clarification. Subscribed.
I'm a huge fan of solanum nigrum. The greatest thing about finding them in the wild is that each plant tastes a little different, since they're not a stable cultivar. Super fun to have in the garden as well.
Both bittersweet nightshade and horse nettle grow around me, and I have tried them both... Not good. But I do have seed for garden huckleberry, so that's good to know.
We have these growing right by my house here in New Zealand and we also have at least one other native solanum species called Poroporo (Solanum Aviculare) which is very tasty and like a sweet cooked pumpkin and a cape gooseberry kinda together BUT they don't have much flesh and have a lot of super hard seeds so that is a bummer!
I have eaten black nightshade my entire life. They are in the Tomato family. They make the most delicious pies and the ripe berries can be eaten raw. You don't need many for the pie. Enough for a couple of inches in the pie plate. Don't eat the leaves or the green berries.
The wife's family harvested these from the wild and added them to a dessert cake like coffee cake (eastern Wyoming). They called them "swoodseys". I planted some in my garden years ago and they reseed and continue to grow 'like weeds'. When ripe, they are hard to harvest because they are so easy to squish. The easiest way for me is to spread a large cloth on the ground. (Wait until late summer when the berries are almost all ripe). Now, cut off a stem, hold it over the cloth, and rap the stem repeatedly. Almost all off the berries will fall off onto the ground cloth. Use a big ground cloth and hold the stems close as the berries tend to fly around. When done, fold up the cloth and roll the berries into a big bowl. Most will be frozen for later use but i made some into jam this year.
Very informative. I always love your videos. Thank you :) God has blessed humanity with many amazing plants. Glad to learn of another. Have a good day!
Thank you for the informative information. They are right here in my backyard---southern California. They have been abused and ignored. Now I know what I can do with them. ❤
Oh, that's what those are! I had nightshade growing in my flowerbeds a year ago and really wanted to know what they were. They looked like black nightshade but I wanted identification. Haven't seen them since.
Black nightshade randomly started growing in my garden beds and they were so yummy! It was a surprise because I'd never seen them before. They didn't come this year. I should've saved the seeds.
Man, there were a TON of these all over the pumpkin patch I visited the other day, I wish I would've known what I was looking at, I would've picked some! Great vid thank you!👍
I made some fermented hot sauce with tomatoes, being that they're in the same family and sweeter, i'm wondering how Black Nightshade would work in a ferment... I already have them growing in the garden.
I'm a food plant biodiversity botanist and have introduced black nightshade berries and leaves (edible once blanched) to many who are usually doubtful until they see me gobble a handful with glee.. PS...I have 20# of dried Bay Nuts if you or your viewers are interested. Still experimenting with processing. Have you ever done an episode on Bay Nuts?
Do you mean the California Bay Laurel nut? We sure get a lot around here, and the native peoples roasted them( after removing the husk) then,I think,just cracked and ate,or made flour,etc….
Thank you for the video! I recently got up the courage to try them, and they do taste like sweet tart tomatoes. I did feel a little itching in my mouth, so I might be a little sensitive to them.
I've seen the red bittersweet most often but occasionally the black and always thought they were just the same thing. Cool to know one is actually safe.
I have at least four different varieties of black nightshade growing this year. I am very much looking forward to doing a side-by-side comparison the ripe fruits. I think what I have are villosum, sarrachoides, scabrum, and nigrum. I found the scabrum to taste much better if first boiled in baking soda solution for a few minutes, then drained, rinsed, and fully cooked with lemon juice - they were a convincing mock blueberry at that point.
Im glad you talked about this plant. I had one just show up in my planter pot, did a little research... we've been tentatively eating the berries. Now I know you gotta eat them VERY ripe, I feel better about it. Never had any adverse reactions from eating it. We've also discovered Yaupon tea. Wonderful stuff.
Love this plant! Collected enough to make a batch of jam 😊 Then I moved to the country about 2.5 hours north, I brought some other plants with me. I didn't expect it but a couple years later I saw these plants reveal themselves but not til late August ( pushing the limits of zone 2b, or not 2b, lol😂)and very little fruit ripening before killer frost. But, obviously some survive to grow again ❤💚🌿
Well,I love learning & i definitely learned something today..get out there & learn what each one looks like & get a feel for them,look what marks,colours,shapes distinguish it..I love learning.. Thankyou so much for sharing your knowledge & educating us..☮🌱🌻🦋☮🌱🌻🦋
I am using the green cover worksheets, I guess the originals and I loooove them! They are so quick for my 7 year old to do and so independent! After I purchased them, I saw these and wondered if this would be even better. So I am excited that I was able to take a peak inside. These look so great, I can see my 5 year old doing so good with the newer type of workbooks. Thank you😊
You mentioned wanting to try growing them in fertile soil. I find they grow better in soil that is sandy (sand so fine it’s almost clay) yet alkaline than they do in manure
I was meticulously removing this plant from my garden thinking that it's poisonous, but I tired of it because it's so plentiful. Now no need to do it, because it's actually edible. :)
Ah man! You’re in North Alabama?! Me too. I’d love to go foraging with you. I’ve never actually been, and I just started growing a bunch of berry bushes and fruit trees so that’s how I’ve came across your channel. I appreciate the knowledge you pass along in your videos. Cheers!
When I was a kid my mom would plant this on purpose for the greens, I myself was never a fan of the taste of the greens. I don't think she ever tried the berries.
We have quite a bit of black nightshade growing about the place - all still green, right now. its is a popular forage plant for meloidae spp - they serve as a check on grasshopper populations, as their larvae eat grasshopper eggs - though they sometimes pick our tomato plants to have a gnosh on.
On kauai we have some very rare solanum in the Koke'e bogs. Down in the lowlands we call it Popolo and eat the ripe fruit and cooked new greens. Aloha!
I live in the Los Angeles area in a hot dry area and they aren't everyplace but deadly nightshade are around. Nobody has mentioned it but Tomatoes are from the nightshade family
One came up in my garden after I used soil from a wash in the forest. I let it grow but wondered if it was "deadly nightshade" or something but decided to let it make seed in case it may be useful. It should reseed next year but I cleaned out that area to hand sow winter greens and turnips.
I am from Indonesia and we do not eat them ripe. We only eat them unripe. We eat them unripe with a meal as something to give the meal a nice crunch like cucumbers. We dip them unripe in a spicy chilli paste. We also cook them in stir fry with oncom. They are even sold unripe at supermarkets here.
in the desert south west we have a common night shade with purple flowers, leaves are more of a gray green, normally less than a foot tall. Covered in real fine thorns with berries that will ripen from yellow to black depending on location.
Charlotte Clarke who is the author of Edible and Useful Plants of California has noted that Solanum douglasii is also edible. It is notable because this species frequently has very shiny fruits, which is in contrast to the dull to semigloss fruits of the nightshades you featured here. The plant otherwise looks like other black nightshades and is typically identified by its very long anthers in comparison to the other species. Here in California we have about 30 species of Solanum with many not present in the rest of the United States. Some look pretty close to black nightshades (but not considered part of the 'black nightshade complex'), maybe more so then some of the examples you gave. Have you looked into the botanical division for Solanum subsection Solanum? I'm curious how you think of the 'black nightshade complex' vs subsection Solanum and if all members should be considered part of the complex or if all the species are edible.
I recently moved house and in my backyard there was a single American Black Nightshade plant. Tried the berries, fell in love instantly, and I've since started growing some from seed! I actually wanna try hybridizing it in the future to see if i can get bigger but equally sweet berries because i don't like tomatoes 🙏 wish me luck lol
Good to know. I had these growing in my backyard and picked a bunch, but was too scared to eat them. I wasnt sure if it was garden huckleberrry or black nightshade.
Just ate one, tasted kind of like a grape! Thanks, I have these coming up all the time & had always wondered, they look tasty & I’m surprised birds don’t eat them faster! Also hosts a super cool sphinx moth 💚
If you want to intentionally cultivate black nightshade for greens there are a few African varieties that are bred specifically for large tender greens. There are also some bred to produce gold, orange, or red fruit!
Black nightshade of some variety grows in my back yard in Los Angeles, and in the woods and around here. I had heard that they're edible and tasty when fully ripe, and that they're poisonous and dangerous, and that it varies, depending on strain and locality. I've eaten them and found them good, like tiny, sweet tomatoes, and never got sick, but I never eat many at a time on the chance that THIS MIGHT BE THE PLANT THAT'S BAD. One time I made spaghetti sauce, adding a couple handfulls of nightshade berries to the tomato sauce, and it came out a weird looking black, but tasted good. Maybe for Halloween.
Well,this is really cool,and,sad. Sad,because I’ve been removing these beautiful plants thinking they were toxic. I hope I have not removed them all and,they will forgive me,and return! Here in California,we have a wild berry that grows around the creek areas with a flower that looks like this,but,the ripe berries are Snow White. Looking them up it seems they ARE quite toxic….I forgot what they are called…THANK YOU so much for teaching me this!
This was really interesting, I have a similar plant in my yard, I’ll take a closer look later today. They came up volunteer and I mostly ignored them. I thought they were deadly nightshade after a brief search. But heir flowers are nothing like that. BTW, neither atropine nor scopolamine are poison, they are both used medically. It is a dose related issue and picking and eating the Deadly Nightshade would be dangerous because you can’t know how much you are ingesting. I imagine early people understood and used them to treat illnesses.
Well this was highly informative. The most surprising part for me was learning there are nightshades with edible greens. I’ve been violently ill from accidental ingestion of tomato spuds, so I thought all the greens were toxic. I’d love to try black nightshade. I had never heard of it as we only seem to have the toxic red / purple nightshade here in NY.
Black nightshade group identification (within Nightshade family):
1. ✓ Tiny white flowers with yellow anthers
2. 💜 Fruits dark purple at maturity
3. 👯♀ Fruits come in clusters, not single
4. 🍃 Calyx does not extend far past fruit edge
5. 🚫 Lacks sharp spines or prickles
You can learn how to easily recognize the Nightshade (Solanaceae) family here - ua-cam.com/users/live6yesaVeDj0g
You lived!
Thank you!!! Finally a mainstream foraging video from someone who isn't fear mongering about Black Nightshade! I've been foraging & eating the berries raw & also making jam from them for years...for myself only because EVERYONE believes the negative info, regardless of info like you presented, and the fact that it is an important fruit in many cultures.
I'm in S Central Ohio and had an interesting group of volunteers appear this year- American Bittersweet, Oriental Bittersweet, Atropa and Nigrum! Once you actually SEE them (in person or in an excellent video like yours), there really is no way to misidentify Nigrum.
After years of research and foraging them, I didn't realize that there were different cultivars though! So, thank you for going over that! From your pics, I'd probably have to id mine as Retroflexum because it has a low, creeping growth habit and delicate thin stems. Am I correct?
Finally, thank you for doing the next video on Pokeberry! I intentionally plant them in a beautiful border around my porch. I use them for so many things- early pan fried shoots, Poke Salet, a root medicinal (RESEARCH this folks!!!), a berry ink & dye, and a beautiful privacy wall! Just a wee warning- If you have an town weed ordinance or a picky landlord, you may have to show them proof that it isn't 'just a weed'. Happy foraging & growing!
and now do it with deadly nightshade!
Excellent information on Black nightshade. thank you !!
They aren't called wonderberries for nothing when you get them in their domesticated form😊 The name doesn't come from the nutritional value though, rather it comes from the fact that when main crops fail this plant will grow in the baren fields providing an alternative food source during famine. Also the blue tomatoes you can get now come from out crossing the tomato with the species and then a lot of back crossing to get the gene in and then a lot of follow-up breeding to get the pigment gene to duplicate and build up again. I was one of the people who was growing out these plants for years while it was being worked on though I never got one that was a step for that I needed to send back It was still a fun project to be part of. If you look through the scientific literature, most scientists believe that the majority of plants in this group are going to be fully edible with the fruit is ripe and it will be fine but because we do know occasionally there are members in the group that can be toxic it's important to keep that in mind when trying something that isn't well proven so they generally recommend only eating the fruit from seeds that are from a lineage of plants that have been in cultivation for a while. It's not because it's likely that they're going to be poisonous but basically a liability thing. There are tons of food around the world that science hasn't had time to do a full toxicity evaluation of and people are always going to be a little bit more wary of anything that hasn't been officially analyzed yet, but that doesn't mean that those foods are unsafe. It just means it's an unknown.
Goji, a nightshade, has been celebrated as superfood by the Chinese for thousands of years. After I took a handful of fresh goji berries each day for a few days my vision miraculously improved. Goji is also said to aid longevity.
THANK YOU!! I’ve been eating these delicious berries for years! They’re sort of considered a weed where I live in NE Florida. I never talked about eating them because people think I’m just ridiculous because I forage and transplant edible or useful “weeds” in my yard rather than flowers from Lowe’s (that the deer love to eat!) I also love your video on the Golden Rod jelly! I actually keep a strong golden rod tea in my fridge and use it for a super sleep aid! It puts my to sleep so quickly and I usually drink it in bed, just 1/3 of a cup with honey and within 10 mins my eyes lids drop. Might not affect everyone like that but does me tgat way. Thank you for your wonderful, informative videos! I love your content!
How does it taste?
I grew up eating things from the field and mountains. I'll not go out of my way to forage for the black nightshades, but if it is on my way, I'll still pick it as they are okay.
Do you have a channel
Lowe's is a rip off. I take flowers people throw out in the fall and either bring them back or collect seeds. I have had a garden for years and have only spent money on a little soil here and there. I have never purchased plants. If you can get fruit by foraging instead of buying it then that's a good thing. If people think you are ridiculous then you're talking to the wrong people.
I found these growing in my yard in Daytona Beach area and now keep a couple plants. Definitely tasty, I have converted a couple people haha.
I appreciate you leaving that book as a point of research. That is responsible journalism.
They are so much better than tomatoes because they come back every year all by themselves (minnesota) perfect addition to a permagarden. Thank you for this video!!
In South Africa, we call it Msoba and we make a delicious purple jam of it.
I enjoyed it so much, that I developed a nightshade intolerance and now can't eat tomatoes, aubergine, peppers or potatos, without getting severe inflammation in my joints.
So... not worth it. Rather have my PO TA TOES!
@@EC-dz4bq Sometimes, I have some fries, regardless.
Yes,lots of people are effected that way… I love eggplant,but,can feel a restriction in my throat after a couple bites,so,I’m thinking I’m a bit “allergic “ and don’t want to push my luck… I’m guessing I will need to be very cautious with this berry as tomato and bell peppers can trigger a migraine,too…. No problem with potatoes,it seems…🤷♀️
RIP
@@EC-dz4bq "Boli 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew."
Fun fact, black nightshade contains a more absorbable form of lycopene, which was accidentally bred out of our red tomatoes.
“Accidentally” …🧐
@@Nibiru3600X yes the deep state government bred antioxidants out of tomatoes to control the population it all makes sense now
@@Nibiru3600X Least unhinged conspiracy theory:
Lycopene is a type of carotenoid's organic pigment
Tomatoes used to be orange-ish
Tomatoes haven't been Orange in like a couple of 100 a year
@@Wise_offa couple of centuries*
I really want to thank you for this video!
I was exposed to nightshade when a pair of brothers got my mom interested enough to grow some and make a batch of wine from the berries. I was about 6 or 7 at the time.
The amount of hesitancy to finally try the wine is best explained by the fact that it was the last batch of wine they (my parents) opened after we had moved and brought it with us.
This means it was years after she made it, probably 2-3.
Nobody had any health issues from drinking it, but that superstition stopped it from ever being made again.
I've had them come up wild in my yard. I allow them to grow, and when I have time to, I gather the berries and freeze them for use later.
See, I learned that solanine breaks down if it's cooked. I, until watching this video, was still cautious, despite loving the plant and it's association to my childhood.
While I'm still going to use the frozen berries for jam, or something, I'm thrilled to know that I can eat them straight off the plants!!!
I cannot thank you enough for this newfound 'freedom' regarding such a maligned plant.
Thanks!
You really want to thank him, huh? Than why don't you Bub? You got a problem? Or multiple problems?
@@Oysters176Begone Troll! 🧌
@@Oysters176ew
@@Oysters176 grow up
Been eating them all my life, in Hawaii it is called the popolo berry
Do Hawaiians use them for cooking at all like some Pacific islanders and Indonesians do?
@@tamaliaalisjahbana9354 I never did myself...it's more a pick it and eat it kinda like raspberries, and the like,
Those look exactly like the Huckleberries I grow in My garden! I planted them once from seed & have never needed to plant them again, as accidental berries fall & come back every Spring!😃🌱
Bingo!
I have consumed many pounds worth of huckleberries and not one of them looked like black nightshade. Do a quick google image search of huckleberries, and you will see.
True huckleberries are Gaylusaccia or some western Vaccinium species in the heather family, basically wild blueberries (though Gaylusaccia has 10 larger seeds, so it is grittier than a blueberry). "Garden huckleberries" are a marketing term for a species or hybrid in the Solanum nigrum complex, useful because as an annual, it is quick to produce fruit from seed (blueberries will probably take 5 years?) and as a non-Ericaceous plant, doesn't require highly acid soil. "Wonderberry" (developed by Burbank) is basically the same.
Ground cherries will reseed too. Also a nightshade variety and very delicious and prolific.
TIP: You can buy Ground Cherry (Pruinosa type) seeds to grow. They produce a whole lot of fruits and will easily reseed in a weedy open area or field. They begin producing fruit as soon as the plants begin branching at 6 inches in diameter. They can grow 8 to 10 feet wide and low across the ground. Earwigs and tomato worms were my two worst pests but animals like raccoons & possums love them. Next year I plan to grow a lot more of them.
I love eating ground cherries!
My mother-in-law had deadly nightshade plants growing through a thorny bush in her yard. She didn't get rid of them because she liked watching birds eat the berries. She made sure we knew not to eat the berries, and showed us how to recognize the plants. Her husband was afraid to touch the plants, thinking he would get poisoned by just the touch. The flowers are a beautiful color purple.
...and anyone on her bad side perished. 🤣
Holy cow! I've eaten deadly nightshade berries. Just two berries, but still. I was three quarters starved out in the wood and I saw these delicious looking black berries and decided to try them. Since I'm not a complete dummy I only tried a couple. I ended up calling them 'Thunder berries' because they didn't taste good and gave me tremendous.. tummy trouble. I didn't eat any more.
@kaelhooten8468 😁👍
How bad it taste?
@@conanhighwoods4304 it wasn't terrible, just very bland. Not sweet or sour or bitter, just blah.
I am thankful you are ok. My cousin lost her beautiful 3
old years ago. She was airlifted to childrens hospital. After several days, she died.
This is a plant people use in landscaping. Children eat berries.♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️
If you ever do decide to try things when your out in the woods, do not eat the bright red thing that looks like a cluster of pomegranate on a stem. It has little razor shards that will burn your mouth and throat. It feels like glass. I tried one, only the tip of my tongue, but it was diabolical. there are lots of edibles in the woods at different times of year, the more you're outside, the more you'll identify. For instance, during summer there's these red berries with a thistley red looking vine, it's a wine berry. Delicious, juicy, tart red berries.
OMG Thank you! I get soo tired of correcting people on plant ID groups, perhaps even worse than poke weed.
Agreed! I hope this helps more people understand black nightshade!
I 💯 agree
@@FeralForaging ...be "aware" that you "can" also experience adrenaline and cortisol release from consuming toxins / inflammatories, and certain range of dose of poison... The effect is that your body picks up on the "begining" of the cascade and mounts full out adrenaline and cortisol response ---- WHICH: relieves ALL manner of inflammation from other toxins or diseases that you have ...so you will FEEL GREAT, NEVER BETTER and even "more alive" than you've ever felt in a long time...
So what is the problem? ...that your body's "great response" does not "stem/stop" a good portion of the damage occuring, but rather suppresses the *response*/*inflammatory response* i.e. suppressing the immune response, blunting pain sensation, even modifying leptin and grehlin...
In the short to medium term? Adrenal Fatigue.
Medium to Chronic term: too much to list.
This is just one of many things people are confused about with the idea of "detoxing" AND "Hormesis" ...you can and many do create a "Hormetic Fatigue" ..for example the majority/85% of people who try to go vegan and felt great in the first few months or more, but by 3 years stopped being "vegan" due to "major health issues"..
EDIT: I had to learn it the hard way too. So experience can teach us what we ignored..
Great video mate. I've been eating the fruit for years. They do vary in flavour somewhat depending on the soil and species but are always yum. I deliberately encourage them in my yard and have taught my kids how to identify them so I don't have to buy as many berries from the shops! I'm in subtropical Australia so they fruit most of the year here until it gets really hot at the height of summer of a little chilly in the middle of winter where they just slow down really. Great fruit. They were originally introduced to Australia by Chinese gold miners in the 1800s as a vegetable!
Thank you for clarifying between the different species. I grew up eaten various wild berries, where later on my friends were horrified. You just have to KNOW ! So you're teachings being here is wonderful for people ! On another note, in my family, were different members suffer from different autoimmune ailments or disorders, one of the big dietary triggers is the nightshade family of produce like tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes....so not all rumors or old wives tales are false. With that said, i also believe in what the great god Apollo said to his sister Artemis, "Everything in moderation....even moderation !" So, eat what ya like and just don't over do ... anything !... and you'll reap the benefits and your metabolism will filter out the negative.
My whanau (family) wash and boil the leaf and stems with beef or pork or lamb/mutton. We call the plant "poroporo".
We also prepare dandelion the same way.❤
I'm not sure, but you may be getting confused with Solanum Aviculare vs Solanum Nigrum.
I eat loads of Poroporo when I can find them, but they have a much larger plant with purple flowers and are yellowy-orange (when ripe) about the size of your thumb.
I've never heard Nightshade referred to as Poroporo here in the East Cape (mostly Ngāti Porou).
I'm delighted to see this video, as I came across some black nightshade two weeks ago on a hike near Durango CO, and mistook it for deadly nightshade. Add this to my local foraging options!
Baker creek Seed Company sells the seeds and calls them Wonderberries. They are delicious and fruitful.
I love making "garden huckleberry" (black nightshade) pie around Halloween. The process is amazing. It starts purple-black when cooking the berries. Then, adding baking soda while cooking the berries causes it to foam green.
Share the recipe?
I cannot post a direct link, but if you search "sandhill preservation garden huckleberry", their website has the recipe I used
Very good video on Black Nightshade !! I've been growing witching herbs for 8 years.. such as atropa belladonna ... one of my very favorite plants to grow as a hobby !! love your channel !!
Got any tips on getting datura stramonium seeds to germinate? I've tried everything and starting to wonder if my seeds have just gone bad.
@@EddieTheHtry putting them in the freezer for a month. Then soak them over night in warm water. Keep them warm and damp for fourteen days. Oh, and get some fresh seeds.
@@swatson1190 I did try freezing them but I only gave them about 2 weeks.
I've struggled to find fresh seeds, all I can seem to find is Colubrina.
I've just stuck some more in the freezer 🤞
Thanks for getting back to me!
@FeralForaging, I used to have both black and bittersweet growing in the cracks of my parents' driveway decades ago, on the west coast of Michigan. I grew the black in small pots as an ornamental, believing my plant books, that they were inedible. Now, I can't find any to bring home to grow! Horsenettle grew at mom's old place inland from Lake Michigan, and I have some of its berries to try to grow. My yard is a NWF-Certified Wildlife Habitat in Knoxville, TN, so I encourage and intentionally plant Native species of whatever will grow, for the beauty, and the wildlife benefits. I tried to get the first two above to hybridise, as they flower at the same time, but it never succeeded, that I could tell. The bittersweet was originally half a block from my parents' place, overlooking the beach, in full sun, very windy. I assume birds brought them there. Anyway, thanks for sharing all these facts. I saw your poke video, btw. Before you, I had never heard anyone call poke salad "poke sallet." Same root word, it turns out, only the latter is for cooked, rather than raw greens, so technically you are right, but I won't be "correcting" anyone around here. P.S. I hope you do a video on kudzu. The young leaves are very nice, cooked, the flowers are edible, and if it ever makes pods, the beans are edible, as is the starchy storage root. I encourage everyone to eat hell out of that misplaced "green carpet of death" vine.
I just ate two off of a "weed" I typically pull out of my garden. Next year I guess I'll allow them to live. Tastes pretty good
😅
I have lost control of my black nightshade collection in my backyard 😅 (Same with volunteer tomato plants, physalis plants and tomatillo plants). They are popping left and right, in the lawn, in the garden, in pots, because of birds, squirels and the wind. Sometime I don't even know what they are but I let them grow and eat the berries when they are ready. I also have amongst the "normal" ones a variety that ripens green and an other that ripens a bright yet translucent orange. 🍅🥔🤤
I love these. I grow them on purpose. They are great fresh, as sauce and dried like raisins. you are right, people just about go bonkers if you tell them you eat them. Just Other fun comments: Horse Nettle is also called Silver Nightshade in my area. It is super common and annoying. FYI: We do have a wild Nightshade in my area that I can't remember the name right now that has edible fruit and it is covered in thorns, including the fruit and you have to remove the thorn casing to get to a fruit that's red when ripe, but it's not worth your time and it's hard to find. I do love our native wolfberries and ground cherries though.
I'm originally southern and I didn't know prior to the birth of the internet that people didn't eat Poke. It's delicious. I even remember Allen canning company selling it in the store. It's a shame people have lost so much knowledge of wild edibles.
I spent 2 years trying to eradicate my yard of these “poisonous” plants and then I did more research. I now add them to crumbles & oatmeal
Thank you! These grow everywhere in our yard but I never ate them because I assumed they were poisonous.
Well.. @13:30 now I’m sure I can’t eat the berries growing in my yard.. I’d says for a couple years I was pretty certain it was Belladonna/deadly nightshade, but honestly I was getting a little excited watching this, thinking maybe what I had was edible. No, those beautiful purple flowers are unmistakable. I have deadly nightshade in the yard, but I basically already thought that, and already call the plant “Bella”, so I’ll let her stay.
Edit: nope, I’m wrong.. Bella is a bittersweet nightshade, and I DID mistake those purple flowers. However, we have a couple plants with purple flowers that look very similar to the Belladonna, so I think I’m just twisting it all in my mind. “Bella” definitely has the flowers that look like the black nightshade, and I have seen the red berries, though usually animals eat them before they really mature.. Damn, I thought I had the real thing.
When I was a child, my great aunt did have a real deadly nightshade, and she called it/them (she had more than one I think) “Bella”, which is why I named mine. She was from the old country, still had an accent, and I guess somehow she must have brought seeds or berries from Italy, bc it was the real deal. I don’t remember all this super well, it was 30+ years ago, I just remember my mom telling me they were poison, and my aunt in her accent saying, “Bella is beautiful, but she dangerous, she hurt you, no touch or eat!”
Anyway.. maybe I’ll call my plant Bitter Bella, or something now. I’m rambling. This was cool though!
I have two giant plants of these growing great in the back thanks to my dog. Don't plan on eating them but i'm glad you made this video so I can properly identify them cause I wasn't sure because of searches giving misinformation.
Why is it thanks to your dog?
Friends from Southern Mexico told me they make salsa with these little berries. So I had them taste the ones growing in my yard, and they were very surprised that the berries were not bitter like the ones they are used to eating. The ones in my yard are sweet. In Southern California.
The black nightshade besides tasting, I think is also very pretty and could be used as an ornamental annual.
I love them! I put them in a pasta salad with pimp tomatoes. The little red and black berries looked and tasted great. I also made them into a pie, and I've had them as a jam. I love the jam, it's my favorite way to eat black nightshade.
Wonderful video on a topic that was on my mind. There are black nightshade plants that have grown along a hiking path that I frequent. They grow side-by-side with blackberry plants. Both are hardy, surviving even in low precipitation. The dry weather produces only a few tiny, tart blackberries, often hard to reach among the thorns, but the black nightshade seems to thrive, producing abundant fruit within easy reach. My mother pointed them out as edible, but when my research identified the plant as "nightshade" I have been less than enthusiastic in picking and eating them. Thank you for the clarification. Subscribed.
I'm a huge fan of solanum nigrum. The greatest thing about finding them in the wild is that each plant tastes a little different, since they're not a stable cultivar. Super fun to have in the garden as well.
Both bittersweet nightshade and horse nettle grow around me, and I have tried them both... Not good. But I do have seed for garden huckleberry, so that's good to know.
Thanks a bunch ! It was growing just outside in my garden and I was hesitating on whether it was edible or not. I really enjoyed eating it !
We have these growing right by my house here in New Zealand and we also have at least one other native solanum species called Poroporo (Solanum Aviculare) which is very tasty and like a sweet cooked pumpkin and a cape gooseberry kinda together BUT they don't have much flesh and have a lot of super hard seeds so that is a bummer!
I have eaten black nightshade my entire life. They are in the Tomato family. They make the most delicious pies and the ripe berries can be eaten raw. You don't need many for the pie. Enough for a couple of inches in the pie plate. Don't eat the leaves or the green berries.
I ate a few and I feel my brain felt better I felt I could think clearer . Highly recommend for this issue
Just found these on the edge of my garden! Had no idea what they were
The wife's family harvested these from the wild and added them to a dessert cake like coffee cake (eastern Wyoming). They called them "swoodseys". I planted some in my garden years ago and they reseed and continue to grow 'like weeds'. When ripe, they are hard to harvest because they are so easy to squish. The easiest way for me is to spread a large cloth on the ground. (Wait until late summer when the berries are almost all ripe). Now, cut off a stem, hold it over the cloth, and rap the stem repeatedly. Almost all off the berries will fall off onto the ground cloth. Use a big ground cloth and hold the stems close as the berries tend to fly around. When done, fold up the cloth and roll the berries into a big bowl. Most will be frozen for later use but i made some into jam this year.
Very informative. I always love your videos. Thank you :) God has blessed humanity with many amazing plants. Glad to learn of another. Have a good day!
Thank you for the informative information. They are right here in my backyard---southern California. They have been abused and ignored. Now I know what I can do with them. ❤
Oh, that's what those are! I had nightshade growing in my flowerbeds a year ago and really wanted to know what they were. They looked like black nightshade but I wanted identification. Haven't seen them since.
Black nightshade randomly started growing in my garden beds and they were so yummy! It was a surprise because I'd never seen them before. They didn't come this year. I should've saved the seeds.
Cool, I never knew this. Thanks for sharing mate. Cheers.
Man, there were a TON of these all over the pumpkin patch I visited the other day, I wish I would've known what I was looking at, I would've picked some! Great vid thank you!👍
It's all over my jungle, ahem, yard!
😂🤭👍🌷
I made some fermented hot sauce with tomatoes, being that they're in the same family and sweeter, i'm wondering how Black Nightshade would work in a ferment... I already have them growing in the garden.
I'm a food plant biodiversity botanist and have introduced black nightshade berries and leaves (edible once blanched) to many who are usually doubtful until they see me gobble a handful with glee..
PS...I have 20# of dried Bay Nuts if you or your viewers are interested. Still experimenting with processing.
Have you ever done an episode on Bay Nuts?
Interesting
Do you mean the California Bay Laurel nut? We sure get a lot around here, and the native peoples roasted them( after removing the husk) then,I think,just cracked and ate,or made flour,etc….
Thank you for the video! I recently got up the courage to try them, and they do taste like sweet tart tomatoes. I did feel a little itching in my mouth, so I might be a little sensitive to them.
I've seen the red bittersweet most often but occasionally the black and always thought they were just the same thing. Cool to know one is actually safe.
I have at least four different varieties of black nightshade growing this year. I am very much looking forward to doing a side-by-side comparison the ripe fruits. I think what I have are villosum, sarrachoides, scabrum, and nigrum. I found the scabrum to taste much better if first boiled in baking soda solution for a few minutes, then drained, rinsed, and fully cooked with lemon juice - they were a convincing mock blueberry at that point.
Im glad you talked about this plant. I had one just show up in my planter pot, did a little research... we've been tentatively eating the berries. Now I know you gotta eat them VERY ripe, I feel better about it. Never had any adverse reactions from eating it. We've also discovered Yaupon tea. Wonderful stuff.
Love this plant! Collected enough to make a batch of jam 😊
Then I moved to the country about 2.5 hours north, I brought some other plants with me. I didn't expect it but a couple years later I saw these plants reveal themselves but not til late August ( pushing the limits of zone 2b, or not 2b, lol😂)and very little fruit ripening before killer frost. But, obviously some survive to grow again ❤💚🌿
Bro your channel is good
Thank you!
Well,I love learning & i definitely learned something today..get out there & learn what each one looks like & get a feel for them,look what marks,colours,shapes distinguish it..I love learning..
Thankyou so much for sharing your knowledge & educating us..☮🌱🌻🦋☮🌱🌻🦋
I am using the green cover worksheets, I guess the originals and I loooove them! They are so quick for my 7 year old to do and so independent! After I purchased them, I saw these and wondered if this would be even better.
So I am excited that I was able to take a peak inside. These look so great, I can see my 5 year old doing so good with the newer type of workbooks.
Thank you😊
You mentioned wanting to try growing them in fertile soil.
I find they grow better in soil that is sandy (sand so fine it’s almost clay) yet alkaline than they do in manure
@kaelhooten8468 we have a lot of dolostone bedrock covered by glacial till in southwest Vermont.
I was meticulously removing this plant from my garden thinking that it's poisonous, but I tired of it because it's so plentiful. Now no need to do it, because it's actually edible. :)
Ah man! You’re in North Alabama?! Me too. I’d love to go foraging with you. I’ve never actually been, and I just started growing a bunch of berry bushes and fruit trees so that’s how I’ve came across your channel. I appreciate the knowledge you pass along in your videos. Cheers!
black nightshade greens are the best when fried after being boiled thoroughly.
Fried like a fritter or just cooked in oil?
Thanks for the informative video. I have been fascinated by deadly nightshade since I was a kid. A lot of this was still news to me
When I was a kid my mom would plant this on purpose for the greens, I myself was never a fan of the taste of the greens. I don't think she ever tried the berries.
delicious edible fruits - leaves edible greens (ive been eating the berries since i was a kid)
Yeaaaaah. Great and awesome video and info, as always!! 👏👏👏 But bruv. That thumbnail tho. 😅
We have quite a bit of black nightshade growing about the place - all still green, right now. its is a popular forage plant for meloidae spp - they serve as a check on grasshopper populations, as their larvae eat grasshopper eggs - though they sometimes pick our tomato plants to have a gnosh on.
Bravo sir 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks!
Thank YOU! :D
Thanks for that information! You have cleared up some questions I had about this plant !
will these grow in Missouri, how do you get one of these plants to put in my, garden? your site is so interesting & informative, thank you for sharing
On kauai we have some very rare solanum in the Koke'e bogs. Down in the lowlands we call it Popolo and eat the ripe fruit and cooked new greens. Aloha!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing that. I love hearing about this plant being eaten around the world.
Very cool and interesting! Thanks for the info
Very welcome!
I live in the Los Angeles area in a hot dry area and they aren't everyplace but deadly nightshade are around. Nobody has mentioned it but Tomatoes are from the nightshade family
It was nice to meet you today. My husband, Jimmey and wish you all the best.
You are Absolutely Correct 👑🏆👍👏
But ya forgot = in the nightshade family is potatoes! From cuttings AOK = or wintered over! But from seeds poisonous!
Honestly reading your video title I thought you were crazy😂 but now I appreciate your attention to details
I love tomatoey tasting things. Thanks for another great video Jesse.
One came up in my garden after I used soil from a wash in the forest. I let it grow but wondered if it was "deadly nightshade" or something but decided to let it make seed in case it may be useful. It should reseed next year but I cleaned out that area to hand sow winter greens and turnips.
i thought i had black nightshade appear in my garden once, it was just green nightshade. still cool.
I am from Indonesia and we do not eat them ripe. We only eat them unripe. We eat them unripe with a meal as something to give the meal a nice crunch like cucumbers. We dip them unripe in a spicy chilli paste. We also cook them in stir fry with oncom. They are even sold unripe at supermarkets here.
in the desert south west we have a common night shade with purple flowers, leaves are more of a gray green, normally less than a foot tall. Covered in real fine thorns with berries that will ripen from yellow to black depending on location.
and theyll stain the heck out of everything they touch lol. even unripe, the green inside is intense and pigmenty
Charlotte Clarke who is the author of Edible and Useful Plants of California has noted that Solanum douglasii is also edible. It is notable because this species frequently has very shiny fruits, which is in contrast to the dull to semigloss fruits of the nightshades you featured here. The plant otherwise looks like other black nightshades and is typically identified by its very long anthers in comparison to the other species.
Here in California we have about 30 species of Solanum with many not present in the rest of the United States. Some look pretty close to black nightshades (but not considered part of the 'black nightshade complex'), maybe more so then some of the examples you gave.
Have you looked into the botanical division for Solanum subsection Solanum? I'm curious how you think of the 'black nightshade complex' vs subsection Solanum and if all members should be considered part of the complex or if all the species are edible.
Do you know if the “Nicotina” plant in California is edible? If I remember correctly,it also has black berries? Thank you.
Goji berries are also in the nightshade family. I didn’t know that until I found tomato hornworm caterpillars eating the foliage of my shrub.
I thought I had black nightshade in my yard, but the berries never turned black. They stayed green and then fell off. Any idea what that could be?
I recently moved house and in my backyard there was a single American Black Nightshade plant. Tried the berries, fell in love instantly, and I've since started growing some from seed! I actually wanna try hybridizing it in the future to see if i can get bigger but equally sweet berries because i don't like tomatoes 🙏 wish me luck lol
Good to know. I had these growing in my backyard and picked a bunch, but was too scared to eat them. I wasnt sure if it was garden huckleberrry or black nightshade.
Thank you for this information, I have some growing in the backyard but wasn’t sure so…. I too ate a few . Delicious and feel more confident
What are your thoughts on eating pepper and tomato leaves?
Great videos.
Cheers.
Both are edible. Tomato is better used like a herb. Pepper leaves and shoots are a common vegetable in South America.
i love these plants i have 2 of them in pots on my balcony because they are very easy to watch and blood and make beries all the time
Just ate one, tasted kind of like a grape! Thanks, I have these coming up all the time & had always wondered, they look tasty & I’m surprised birds don’t eat them faster! Also hosts a super cool sphinx moth 💚
I'm literally eating some as a garnish on my lunch right now and this video popped up. The algorithm is algorithming.
Great video, I love to eat the berries in yogurt, kind of a blueberry substitute.
Great idea!
If you want to intentionally cultivate black nightshade for greens there are a few African varieties that are bred specifically for large tender greens. There are also some bred to produce gold, orange, or red fruit!
Black nightshade of some variety grows in my back yard in Los Angeles, and in the woods and around here. I had heard that they're edible and tasty when fully ripe, and that they're poisonous and dangerous, and that it varies, depending on strain and locality. I've eaten them and found them good, like tiny, sweet tomatoes, and never got sick, but I never eat many at a time on the chance that THIS MIGHT BE THE PLANT THAT'S BAD. One time I made spaghetti sauce, adding a couple handfulls of nightshade berries to the tomato sauce, and it came out a weird looking black, but tasted good. Maybe for Halloween.
Well,this is really cool,and,sad. Sad,because I’ve been removing these beautiful plants thinking they were toxic. I hope I have not removed them all and,they will forgive me,and return!
Here in California,we have a wild berry that grows around the creek areas with a flower that looks like this,but,the ripe berries are Snow White. Looking them up it seems they ARE quite toxic….I forgot what they are called…THANK YOU so much for teaching me this!
This was really interesting, I have a similar plant in my yard, I’ll take a closer look later today. They came up volunteer and I mostly ignored them. I thought they were deadly nightshade after a brief search. But heir flowers are nothing like that. BTW, neither atropine nor scopolamine are poison, they are both used medically. It is a dose related issue and picking and eating the Deadly Nightshade would be dangerous because you can’t know how much you are ingesting. I imagine early people understood and used them to treat illnesses.
This is one of my favourite leafy vegetables. I learnt to eat the berries from my children who were very small.
Well this was highly informative. The most surprising part for me was learning there are nightshades with edible greens. I’ve been violently ill from accidental ingestion of tomato spuds, so I thought all the greens were toxic. I’d love to try black nightshade. I had never heard of it as we only seem to have the toxic red / purple nightshade here in NY.