In velouté, in puree… It’s fall and we love squash this season. But be careful, they are not all edible! Here’s how to tell if a pumpkin is edible or not.
This fall, in your vegetable garden, a beautiful pumpkin was spontaneously born among the rows of carrots and salads… you were thinking of cooking it in… velvety Tonight ? This is a very bad idea: it could actually make you sick.
Squash can be toxic!
Every year, the National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) identifies casesfood poisoning Due to the consumption of so-called “bitter” gourd. It is also called “wild” squash. Why ? Well specifically, because these pumpkin That grows spontaneously in your garden or in the fields as a result of a Wild hydration Among several pumpkins that were not necessarily edible in the first place, Like bitter melon ! Like pumpkins, wild gourds should be reserved for purely ornamental use. In fact, consuming it can make you very sick: it can cause “Nausea, vomiting, sometimes bloody diarrhea, or even severe dehydration that requires hospitalization“Ancis recalls.
How to recognize poisonous squash?
Squash is poisonous It is often confused with edible pumpkin, because they look incredibly similar…and this is even one of the most common mixes! To know whether a pumpkin is edible or not, you need to analyze several aspects:
- Visual appearance: Poison gourd can be spherical, oval, egg-shaped, or pear-shaped. Under its bark, which can be smooth or warty, you’ll find flesh Green, white or yellow.
- Taste aspect: Poison gourd has an extremely bitter flavour, due to its content of cucurbitacin, which are toxic substances that are very irritating to the human body.
ANSES certainly recommends tasting a small piece of raw meat (without swallowing it). If the pumpkin tastes bitterSpit it out and throw away the squash, it is poisonous. When in doubt, never risk eating squash that has grown Spontaneously in your vegetable gardenreserve it instead for your Halloween decorations!
