Whether fried, as a soup or in a lasagne – pumpkin simply belongs on the table in autumn.
However, if the vegetables taste bitter, alarm bells should ring. What many people don’t know: Pumpkins can be poisonous.
Pumpkin tastes bitter: Do not eat it
If the pumpkin tastes bitter, you should be careful. This can contain the toxic substance curcurbitacin. The toxin was actually bred out of the pumpkin family – but back mutations and backcrosses can occur that contain the poison. But overripeness or incorrect storage can also lead to increased levels of the dangerous toxin. You should be particularly careful with home-grown plants.
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Is a pumpkin poisonous? You can recognize it by these signs
To avoid eating a poisonous pumpkin, you should taste it before preparing it. If it tastes very bitter, curcurbitacin is present in a larger quantity. You should spit out the piece immediately and dispose of the pumpkin – it is definitely no longer suitable for consumption. Even if the pumpkin is cooked, the toxin does not disappear and remains in the vegetable.
You can recognize poisonous pumpkins not only by their taste, but also by their appearance. They often have unusual shapes and beautiful color patterns. Another indication is that the proportion of pulp in pumpkins that contain cucurbitacin is very low. So they usually have a very thick shell.
Symptoms of pumpkin poisoning
Poisoning often occurs when eating pumpkins or zucchini. Fortunately, severe cases are rare. Cucurbitacin attacks the gastrointestinal mucous membranes. Symptoms include severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea. If you consume large amounts of the poison, serious intestinal damage can occur. And in the worst case, they can even end in death.
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Some types of pumpkin are not edible
There are around 800 pumpkin plants worldwide. But not all species are edible! These include eye-catching ornamental pumpkin varieties such as gooseneck, bottle gourd or “Bicolor Spoon” – although these beautify autumn with their shapes, they are not suitable for consumption. An ornamental pumpkin is generally not edible and should only be used for decorative purposes in autumn or Halloween.
The original for this post Little-known risk: You can recognize a poisonous pumpkin from these signs comes from KUKKSI.
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