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1112 Survival
TESTING FOR EDIBILITY
If you are foraging for food but are not sure about the edibility of a plant, take a small amount in your mouth, chew it, and hold it there without swallowing for five minutes. If you feel no ill effects - such as stinging, burning or numbness - swallow, and then wait for eight hours. If by that time you have not experienced any cramps, pain, numbing, vomiting, or diarrhea, eat another handful of the plant and wait another eight hours. If there are still no problems, consider the plant safe to eat.
Michael Rozek, reporting on the Air Force Survival School, in National Wildlife
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George Sudarkoff - 2008-04-01
There are plenty of plants that will kill you as soon as you put them in your mouth. As a rule of thumb, don't touch anything with milky sap and test the rest on your skin first. Or better yet, eat six-legged insects and small furry animals - they are almost always good to eat.
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