
Eating a manchineel “beach apple” (2000) - donquichotte
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127797/
======
whiddershins
I simply cannot imagine picking an unidentified piece of fruit from the ground
and eating it.

There are berries in the northeast that look much like cranberries, but as a
kid I was told they are deadly poisonous. Regardless of the accuracy of that
warning, the basic concept should hold: if you don't know what it is, don't
assume it is safe.

~~~
ryanackley
This.

It just baffles me that a reasonably intelligent person would eat unknown
fruit found in the wild in a foreign country.

~~~
hansjorg
If everybody had been as cautious as you two, nothing much would've happened.

~~~
autarch
There is a protocol for sampling unknown foods that I suspect aboriginal
humans might have developed ad hoc. [http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-
Is-Edible](http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible)

~~~
hansjorg
I've seen military manuals with basically the same procedure recommended. I
wonder if there are some commonly known dangerous plants that would've slipped
through these cracks.

~~~
foobarbecue
Potato seeds slipped through the cracks for centuries!
[http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/chris-
mccandless-...](http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/chris-mccandless-
died-update)

------
ChuckMcM
Really? Am I so weird that I don't just pop random things I find on the ground
into my mouth? The statement, _" I rashly took a bite from this fruit and
found it pleasantly sweet. My friend also partook (at my suggestion)."_
demonstrated at least two evolutionary negative traits; first eating random
things when not starving, second not waiting to observe the effects of eating
an unknown substance by someone silly enough to try it. That is right up there
with trying to hold the brightly colored snake and big fuzzy spider.

~~~
vacri
The point of 'taste' is generally to find things safe to eat. It's not a
'random thing from the ground', but a fruiting body, which is almost
universally safe to eat if it is sweet and not bitter.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Except the fruit in this article was sweet, AND highly toxic. I really don't
think there is any scientific basis for the claim "safe if it's sweet".

~~~
ars
That's _exactly_ why this tree is so notorious. It's actually very very rare
to be both sweet and toxic.

------
mcbits
> Perhaps few adults (especially a medically qualified one) would be foolish
> enough to try eating an unknown fruit found on a foreign beach

That's what was going through my mind for the whole story. And then to sit
around sipping piña coladas as their symptoms worsened? Quite an unbelievable
story, true or not.

~~~
Kluny
I bet they had a few pina coladas before this episode, as well as after.

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moxie
It's not just the fruit, contact with the leaves is similar to contact with
poison ivy or poison oak. Sometimes people take shelter under the tree when it
rains and end up in bad shape.

I led a program for teens in the Caribbean one summer. One of my teens took a
shit in the woods on an island, and unknowingly wiped his ass with a leaf from
this tree. It was a long 5 weeks for him.

------
lisper
Some of the trees in the more touristy areas are marked with warning signs:

[http://www.flownet.com/ron/trips/Amazon/Pages/526.html](http://www.flownet.com/ron/trips/Amazon/Pages/526.html)

Not only do the signs warn you not to eat the fruit, but also not to stand
under the tree when it rains!

~~~
jf
> but also not to stand under the tree when it rains!

Why? According to the sign: "It is also not recommended to take shelter under
this tree when it rains, water that runs off the leaves is corrosive"

Frightening!

~~~
msie
Dammit! The fruit looks so delicious!

------
twic
> Sadly, the pain was exacerbated by most alcoholic beverages, although mildly
> appeased by pina coladas

This is a crucial finding. Clearly, public authorities in Caribbean countries
_must_ now install refrigerators stocked with piña colada on all public
beaches, as an urgent matter of public safety.

------
flashman
If you are in a survival situation and need to know if something is edible,
use the Universal Edibility Test:
[http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/united_states_army...](http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/united_states_army_fm_21-76%20-%205_june_1992%20-%20part05.pdf)

(Do not repeat do not eat unknown fungi even using this test)

1 Test only one part of a potential food plant at a time.

2 Separate the plant into its basic components -leaves, stems, roots, buds,
and flowers.

3 Smell the food for strong or acid odors. Remember, smell alone does not
indicate a plant is edible or inedible.

4 Do not eat for 8 hours before starting the test.

S During the 8 hours you abstain from eating, test for contact poisoning by
placing a piece of the plant part you are testing on the inside of your elbow
or wrist. Usually 15 minutes is enough time to allow for a reaction.

6 During the test period, take nothing by mouth except purified water and the
plant part you are testing.

7 Select a small portion of a single part and prepare it the way you plan to
eat it. a Before placing the prepared plant part in your mouth, touch a small
portion (a pinch) to the outer surface of your lip to test for buming or
itching.

9 If after 3 minutes there is no reaction on your lip, place the plant part on
your tongue, holding it there for 15 minutes.

10 If there is no reaction, thoroughly chew a pinch and hold it in your mouth
for 15 minutes. Do not swallow.

11 If no burning, itching, numbing, stinging, or other irritation occurs
during the 15 minutes. swallow the food.

12 Wait 8 hours. If any ill effects occur during this period. induce vomiting
and drink a lot of water.

13 If no ill effects occur, eat 0.25 cup of the same plant part prepared the
same way. Wait another 8 hours. If no ill effects occur, the plant part as
prepared is safe for eating.

WARNING

Do not eat mushrooms in a survival situation! The only way to tell if a
mushroom is edible is by positive identification. There is no room for
experimentation. Symptoms of the most dangerous mushrooms affecting the
central nervous system may show up after several days have passed when it is
too late to reverse their effects.

------
read_only
If you liked the beach apple story, perhaps you'll find this article about
intentionally and regularly eating poison oak to be fascinating.
[https://yankeebarbareno.com/2011/03/03/eating-poison-
oak/](https://yankeebarbareno.com/2011/03/03/eating-poison-oak/)

~~~
jonah
My dad does this every year with Poison Ivy on his farm. Claims it works.

------
cyberferret
If you are going to pick up or poke, or scariest of all - taste, the local
flora and fauna without first checking with a local, then I predict a very
short existence for you in most tropical zones, or here in Australia...

~~~
x0x0
Or Yellowstone. Very little of the wildlife there is petable. At least not
more than once.

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LoSboccacc
Page 1/14 each having a few lines? Must be one of the worst mobile version
I've encountered in a long time.

~~~
dzdt
The pdf link produces a nice mobile experience.

------
EvanAnderson
There is some good additional detail in this article, too:
[http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whatever-you-do-do-
not-...](http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whatever-you-do-do-not-eat-
touch-or-even-inhale-the-air-around-the-manchineel-tree)

------
dharma1
If you've ever wondered what evolutionary pressures make some fruits poisonous
to humans/mammals, and some delicious, here is a good write up.

[http://www.kew.org/discover/blogs/archived-blogs/trouble-
par...](http://www.kew.org/discover/blogs/archived-blogs/trouble-
paradise-%E2%80%93-why-fruits-are-poisonous)

And a book from the same author:

[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fruit-Inedible-Incredible-
Wolfgang-...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fruit-Inedible-Incredible-Wolfgang-
Stuppy/dp/1608872815)

------
mkstowegnv
Maybe the most frightening thing is that this person apparently went through
medical training and never learned rudimentary field biology. Tour guides in
wild areas all over the world have a "this is not Disney World" or equivalent
mantra. Life is not like television, unless it is the right television. As a
child I watched
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Across_the_Everglades](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Across_the_Everglades)
where the Burl Ives character kills a man by tieing him to a manchineel tree
and will forever remember him wickedly proclaiming "The manchineel tree, the
only tree that can carve its initials in you".

------
amelius
So what should the protocol be then? First rub a little of the juice on the
skin, wait a few hours, and see if it stings? And if not, then proceed, but
how?

~~~
tempestn
From another comment: [http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-
Edible](http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible)

------
mccourt
Cool article. I wonder if the beach had any pertinent information/signage
regarding the fruit. Obviously if the locals are aware then they wouldn't need
it, but visitors would probably appreciate it. I wonder if it's more helpful
to put information directly at the beach, or back at the airport in
documentation in a variety of languages that people can carry with them?

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finid
Traveling in a foreign country, a "medical" person found "some green fruits
among the scattered coconuts and mangoes lying on the beach" and proceeded to
eat the only one (s)he has never eaten before.

Fast forward a decade.

That medical person is now a surgeon. While performing routine surgery, our
"medical" person saw a lump he'd never seen or read about before.

Guess what Einstein did?

~~~
DiabloD3
(S)he.... ate it? Not sure where you were going with that story.

------
camiller
Before my honeymoon in Barbados I read a travel guide. It was mentioned not to
shelter under one during rain. I don't think the ones we saw were bearing
fruit at the time. All of them were marked with a dark read stripe painted on
them.

------
Mz
So, having medical training fails to provide you with the most basic survival
skills.

------
djrogers
What the heck is up with the pagination on that site? I'm befuddled as to why
anyone thought it was a good idea to spend any amount of effort on that...

------
rbosinger
"We ate a weird fruit and got poisoned. True story."

Why is this on the front page of Hacker News?

~~~
bobbles
I guess it helps you to remember that no matter how reasonably logical you
think people might be, there are plenty of people out there who will eat
random food they find off the ground

~~~
rbosinger
So, in the context of Hacker News, is it an analogy of how we tend to dive
head first into new technologies which some times end up poisoning us? ;}

------
kyleblarson
Darwin loves you.

