Every day we eat foods produced by plants that can carry deadly poisons. This doesn’t mean that you should stop eating your fruits and veggies, but rather to pay more attention to eating the right part of the plant.
Here’s the list of the 6 poisonous foods that we love eating:
1. Mushrooms
Mushrooms are quite tasty, but unfortunately some of them can be poisonous. There are some useful signs that show that a mushroom is poisonous, but remember that mushroom with unknown origin are considered dangerous to eat. Poisonous mushrooms have white gills, while the eatable ones have a flat cap without bumps and pink/black gills. Next time you cook mushrooms, pay a lot of attention.
2. Cherries
Cherries are from the same family as apricots, plums and peaches and they are a very popular fruit. When cherry seeds are crushed or chewed they produce prussic acid, which is really poisonous. So next time you’re eating cherries, don’t chew or suck on the pip.
3. Apples
Apples are truly delicious, but their seeds contain cyanide in small doses. Although you need to eat a lot of apple seeds to get sick still it’s possible to get poisoned by apples.
4. Castor Oil
Only one castor bean can kill a human. Castor beans contain ricin, which is one of the most powerful poisons in the world. Luckily, the castor oil people buy and use is carefully prepared and it’s safe to use.
5. Tomatoes
The stems and leaves of tomato plant contain “Glycoalkaloid”, a chemical that causes stomach upsets and nervousness. So if you’re cooking something with tomatoes, don’t forget to remove the stems and leaves before using them.
6. Potatoes
The stems and leaves of potatoes contain poison- even the potato itself contains poison once it turns green. Potato poisoning is rare, but it can happen from time to time. Remove the stems and leaves before using potatoes and don’t you ever consider drinking potato leaf tea.