Is it safe to eat maple seeds? Do they contain any toxins I should worry about?

Question

Are Maple seeds (the "fruits" inside the "helicopters") edible? I have parched some and they are delicious. (I ate 2 yesterday with no ill effects.) I would love to be able to grind these into a flour along with some other wild edibles that I am sure are safe. The raw ones are tasty as...

Answer 1

Your question fascinates me, and started me looking for an answer. So far I have come up dry. The maple helicopter is called a fruit. Samara fruit to be exact. I can find nothing to indicate that they are poison, which is good, but nothing that they are not either. The recommended way to test berries, nuts. roots etc. for toxicity if you are in a survival situation is to eat a few or a small amount and wait to see if there are any ill effects before eating a substantial amount. It seems like you have already done this, so you may be able to answer this question better than anyone. I know that squirrels. birds, and other wildlife such as deer thrive on them. This is a good sign but no guarantee. Often wildlife can eat things that would be harmful to humans. I'm going to keep looking because I have 12 mature maples in my yard and can literally pick up the helicopters by the double hand fulls. If you come up with a good answer let me know, I may have a gold mine in my yard. The link below is a great source of information for alternative or survival foods. I didn't see anything on Samara fruit but they have a forum and the author will answer your questions. Good luck, I'll be watching to see your results.

Answer 2

With every day pass, our country is getting into more and more trouble. The inflation, unemployment and falling value of dollar are the main concern for our Government but authorities are just sleeping, they don’t want to face the fact. Media is also involve in it, they are force to stop showing the real economic situation to the people. I start getting more concern about my future as well as my family after watching the response of our Government for the people that affected by hurricane Katrina.

According to recent studies made by World Bank, the coming crisis will be far worse than initially predicted. So if you're already preparing for the crisis (or haven't started yet) make sure you watch this video at http://www.familysurvival.tv and discover the 4 BIG issues you'll have to deal with when the crisis hits, and how to solve them fast (before the disaster strikes your town!) without spending $1,000s on overrated items and useless survival books.

Answer 3

Squirrels love them and they seem to do well. I doubt that they're toxic.

Answer 4

keep on eatin them then your find out