To all:

In prior posts, I included the bark and branches of the Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) as edibles. This is true, but I inadvertently omitted the fact that you have to boil them first to rid them of saponin, a poison. I sincerely apologize for this omission.

Also, please read my more detailed post on this in the top level forum.

-- eve (123@4567.com), December 02, 1999

Answers

Trifling detail, hmmm? Please advise, Eve: will the saponin evaporate out during the course of baking wood bread from the Bittersweet? ;-)

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-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 02, 1999.

Please don't laugh...grin. I was speaking to a gentleman at my church following my son's emergency appendectomy a few months back. He's a retired AF officer. He asked if I knew what the purpose of the appendix was. I said I didn't think the medical folks had figured that out yet. He said that they have discovered that it's purpose was to aid in the digestion of BARK. I laughed and said, "Who in the world would eat bark? Some pygmy tribe somewhere?". Wow...don't know if it's true or not but you might want to check that out if you have no appendix. If none, how will your body react to the ingestion of bark?

beej

-- beej (beej@ppbbs.com), December 02, 1999.

Hi, SH,

How did I know you'd never let me rest with that wood bread recipe? Well, offhand, I don't know the answer to your question, but I can hazard a wild guess -- since the process includes boiling, and since there was no mention of a saponin problem in the text I got it from, I would assume it would be ok.

Besides, for all practical purposes, since you would only be eating wood bread because you'd be dead if you didn't, I would go for it.

-- eve (123@4567.com), December 03, 1999.

Beej;

Thanks so much! As I still have my appendix, you made my day!

-- eve (123@4567.com), December 03, 1999.