Universal Edibility Test

Just because you can live without food doesn't mean you should. Going without food will leave you weak and apt to make poor decisions, which could endanger your life in a survival situation. Being able to identify edible plants in the wilderness is a good skill to have. If you're in a survival situation and you don't know which local plants are edible, there is a test you can perform to give yourself a good chance of eating the right thing. It's called the universal edibility test.

The universal edibility test requires breaking down the parts of a plant and testing them individually over a period of 24 hours. In a survival situation, you don't want to go through this trouble if there isn't a lot of the plant you're testing. If there are only a few sprigs of what you think might be the colorful and edible borage, it won't help you much even if you find that it is edible. Find something near you that's growing in abundance. To prepare for the test, don't eat or drink anything but water for at least eight hours beforehand. If you're lost or stranded in the wild without any food, this should be pretty easy to accomplish. Now it's test time:

• Separate the plant into its various parts - roots, stems, leaves, buds, and flowers. Focus on only one piece of the plant at a time.
• Smell it. A strong, unpleasant odor is a bad sign.
• Test for contact poisoning by placing a piece of the plant on your inner elbow or wrist for a few minutes. If your skin burns, itches, feels numb, or breaks out in a rash, don’t eat the plant.
• If the plant passes the skin test, prepare a small portion the way you plan to eat it (boiling is always good).
• Before taking a bite, touch the plant to your lips to test for burning or itching. If there’s no reaction after 15 minutes, take a small bite, chew it, and hold it in your mouth for 15 minutes. If the plant tastes very bitter or soapy, spit it out.
• If there’s no reaction in your mouth, swallow the bite and wait several hours. If there’s no ill effect, you can assume this part of the plant is edible. Repeat the test for other parts of the plant; some plants have both edible and inedible parts.

Edible Wilderness and Wilderness Survival Playing Cards