If you don't let your kid eat blackberries...

[OuchIsLife]

Before they have been washed what do you think will happen? Or what has happened?

Just curious as I've always let my kids eat them as soon as they've picked them and I'm not sure what harm would come to them.

If you don't let your kid eat blackberries before they have been washed what do you think will happen? Or what has happened?

Absolutely nothing at all.

Most of the low level ones my DCs pick are well into a bush where no self-respecting pet dog would venture. Haven't seen or heard any foxes.

A tame - ish fox is eating my rosehips as we speak.

We have some in our garden which I use for crumbles mostly. They can be absolutely full of gross little flies (I bin any which are too barf to consider) but that’s why I don’t eat them straight off. I don’t think they’re going to kill me, but I don’t fancy eating them all the same.

Anyone else massively regretting reading this thread? I used to love picking blackberries 😕

Not quite the point but there was a news story near me last year in which a woman went out for a walk, got thirsty and decided to pick and eat 'some tasty-looking berries'.

Elderberries, and she was rather ill as a result.

If an adult is daft enough to do that, I'd definitely be concerned about kids inadvertently getting the idea that all berries are good.

(Not worried in the slightest about little bugs and spiders.)

What's wrong with elderberries? We used to eat them off the tree in our garden like locusts 😀

What's wrong with elderberries? We used to eat them off the tree in our garden like locusts

No, very bad for you in quantity. Need cooking or wine-ing!
You can eat the flowers.

Elderberries contain cyanide! And other toxins that cause diarrhoea and vomiting. Cooking them breaks down the toxins making them safe to eat. In reality, you have to eat quite a lot but different trees/conditions produce different amounts of toxins so you could be lucky and eat loads and not get sick but the same amount from another tree would make you very ill.

This! The dog eats the ones on the lower branches. No joke he actually helps himself (before weeing on them) haha

This

We do have loads in our garden though, but I used to love taking small DCs blackberrying

Is it any different to eating freshly picked strawberries? Surely the fruit fly issue isn’t unique to blackberries? I appreciate the traffic fume issue though.

Ah, well, luckily we didn't know that in the '70s ...

Until Sunday I wouldn't have thought twice about plucking a blackberry out of our hedge and eating it. But I was sitting in the garden on the phone when I heard a rustling in hedge. I quickly realised it wasn't one of the dogs trying to see into next, but a rat!! It was about 3ft off the ground, sitting the hedge eating blackberries....... Tempted to rip the lot out tbh.

OP

Nothing at all will happen if you eat blackberries that have car fumes or dog piss on them, Literally nothing.

Posters on MN always forget basic chemistry:

1. We have stomach acid to deal with trace germs.
2. The levels of fumes we're talking about is tiny, plus, stomach acid FFS.

Honestly people are absolutely bat shit crazy on here. It's a wonder they ever go outside

They contain little blackberry bugs but they won't cause any problems unless you're vegetarian 😅

Just ignore the pearl clutching crazies and crack on!

I mean I’m an adult and ate some blackberries straight off the bush last week!

The dirt/bugs doesn’t bother me (I ate several bugs as a kid that weren’t even in a tasty berry).

My bigger concern is the brambles and the nettles! Mostly because in my excitement to eat berries last week I stumbled in an unseen ditch and fell into the bush which made for a very miserable walk home.

ThePassageOfTime · Today 16:16
OP
Nothing at all will happen if you eat blackberries that have car fumes or dog piss on them, Literally nothing.

Posters on MN always forget basic chemistry:

We have stomach acid to deal with trace germs.
The levels of fumes we're talking about is tiny, plus, stomach acid FFS.
Honestly people are absolutely bat shit crazy on here. It's a wonder they ever go outside

Nothing will happen to you - agreed, but would you want to eat something a dog has peed on? Would you want to knowingly do this? Each to their own...
Most of the advice is to pick from higher up, which is perfectly rational, not batshit.
Now, purposefully eating something contaminated by dog pee, that could be called batshit- or perhaps a life choice.

My kids and I pick them every year and eat straight off the bush as well as cooking them in crumble. The little white larvae in them are harmless and tasteless. The only time I remove them is if I put them in the fridge the worms tend to crawl out then I brush them off. None of us has ever been ill as a result. I generally don't fuss that much about 'germs', my kids always picked up sweets that fell on the floor and ate them etc. And none of us have had any stomach bugs for years and years. My DH, who is much more fussy about germs is the only one who regularly gets an upset stomach.

Yeah, you're right... it's just the level of detail that's been quite offputting. I guess I knew there were probably little bugs inside, I just didn't really think about it. I don't think I'll be able to stop thinking about it now!

Yeah, you're right... it's just the level of detail that's been quite offputting. I guess I knew there were probably little bugs inside, I just didn't really think about it. I don't think I'll be able to stop thinking about it now!

There is a middle road. Tell yourself the little worms are OK, the dog pee not so much. Pick from the higher fruit.

Thing is, it's not contamination! It's an entirely harmless substance in such a small quantity. Our stomachs literally neutralize it.

So it's 100 percent consequence free.

Contamination means when something is actually harmful.

Logic sets us freeeeeeeeee

It's unlikely to cause them any harm its more just a hygiene thing and some people are just more hygienic then others

We live rurally, no-one bats an eyelid at eating them off the bush. I literally know nobody that stops their child from doing it.

If we pick to cook with we wash them, but out and about it’s fine.