Poisoned by homegrown courgettes

[spacecadet]

Given courgettes by kindly neighbour and made a chicken noodle stir fry for dinner. As I was taking my first mouthfuls I noticed it tasted really bad, really bitter. Tried to persevere by adding some sweet chilli sauce and took a few more bites but then decided to stop and looked up bitter tasting courgettes. Couldn't believe what I was reading! Bitter courgettes are poisonous and can even kill you! The article said this was very rare but it said symptoms can occur from consuming a very small amount and I had at least 4 big mouthfuls. Starting to get stomach cramps and my mother is the same - expecting to have a very rough night. But why hasn't this been made more public?? It's the first time I've heard anything about it!

I discovered this recently when I tasted some courgette, it tasted foul. If something tastes bad don't try and disguise the taste, don't eat it!

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/17/tim-dowling-homegrown-courgettes-poisoned-us-all

Only other time I heard of this

I only heard about this recently too (am starting a veg garden). Parents gre courgettes every year, I’d never had a bad one/heard of this

Apparently it’s uncommon, but a wise precaution to taste the 1st courgette off each plant ..

Do you think your neighbour knows? I’d hope not & its v early in season so perhaps these are 1st off that plant : do tell her, it’s not rude in this circumstance

I hope you don’t have too difficult a time with this

Oh poor you. Serious poisoning is pretty rare but it sounds like you're going to have dodgy tummies.

There's some chemical in courgettes (I think) which can become toxic and the recent heat can accelerate this I believe.

Supermarket courgettes are fine because the courgettes are genetically modified to not contain the chemical. I do remember a few years back some rogue packets of seeds somehow got through the net from one of the big seed suppliers and there were a number of cases of poisoning that year from home grown courgettes.

Hope you feel better soon. I guess it's just the usual stuff... keep hydrated, call doctor if you're worried

My brother just told me about this last week!

He said they taste so bad you wouldn't eat enough to do you any harm.

That is where I read about it. I always give mine a little nibble now!

I think this tends to happen when plants are grown from saved seeds rather than bought ones. I heard about this a couple of years ago about not growing butternut squash's from saved seeds but seems it's the same for courgettes and summer squash www.rhs.org.uk/problems/courgette-marrow-pumpkin-and-squash

Here is the article I saw about it: this does explain to me why you mostly see F1 courgette seed for sale. I do wonder if heat stress may have affected the plant?

www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/Gardening-Advice/Courgette-Bitterness-DTB/

Oh, you poor thing!

It is (or was) a pretty well known thing - and, as others say, it's recently been in the news again. In general, if you are eating something home grown, and it doesn't taste good, stop eating. I know we go on about supermarkets bringing in excess quality control, and of course they do, but I think we've started to forget that some quality control is needed, and up to the eater!

I learnt about this on MN a long time ago. It has been the most worthwhile thing that I have learnt on here.
I now refuse all courgettes because they are giant slug like tasteless devil food due to this risk. Now I've learnt I can refuse squash for the same reason...Happy days.

Apologies op I should have said I hope you are feeling a bit better.

I think I'd make myself sick

I hope you are ok and not having ill effects? How are your neighbours? Did they grow from the same seeds also or give them to anyone else??

This exact thread comes around every year on MN and also gardeners world type forums and on click bait. I'm am surprised people are still shocked and unaware this can be an issue.

Oh my - I have experienced bitter courgettes but thought it was my taste buds which are hyper sensitive to bitterness (this is actually a thing ). I've never had any symptoms but I always spit them out - in fact I always taste now before I use them. I grow my own but it has happened with supermarket and organic shop courgettes too (I'm on mainland Europe, not U.K.). Often seems to be if they have been in the fridge a while! I wonder if this is normal or not now... maybe the toxins develop as the courgettes get older?

I've had this with cucumbers previously. It appears to be caused by underwatering/ heat , which makes sense given recent weather. Not your plants, but can be rectified by increasing moisture levels for the affected plants.

How are you today OP? Still alive?

Still alive but that was a rough night and still going this morning. Going to have to call in to work sick today because I just don't know if its out of my system yet :(

Glad to hear you made it through OP. Who would have thought the bland and harmless courgette could have such a dark side?!

maybe the toxins develop as the courgettes get older? It’s a mutation, so can’t just develop while the courgette is in the fridge.

Please check on the neighbours. They might defiantly have eaten more as they went to the trouble of growing them.

Blimey!! How are you now?

Oh blimey you poor thing! I always thought that the 'bitterness' was caused by the age of the courgette, so I peel the older ones. I didn't know it was an actual chemical . Like the green in potatoes that is also poisonous. I like the yellow ones. They do need extra flavour like garlic and herbs though.

I ALWAYS peel courgettes, doesn’t matter where I get them from.

This is why I don’t waste my time growing cucumbers and courgettes, because they can turn bitter and make you sick, then you have to bin the lot. I thought it was common knowledge that this could happen?

@ppeatfruit glad I'm not the the only one who believed that! I guess the bitterness that some older courgettes develop is caused by something else and isn't dangerous.

It’s not common knowledge because it doesn’t happen very often. Ive been growing both for 15 years and it’s never happened to me