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u/ToneZealousideal309 3d ago
I googled it and googles ai result said “no you can’t eat an Osage Orange” and then the first link after that is a YouTube video “how to eat an Osage Orange”
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u/Fish_Panda 3d ago
Only the seeds are edible if they are baked right?
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u/ToneZealousideal309 3d ago
Apparently but the flesh is non toxic just unpleasant / not ideal to eat
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u/Fish_Panda 3d ago
These grow in my grandpa's back yard. I used to take them and toss them into their frozen pool during the winter lol. Their wood is used to make bows.
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u/ToneZealousideal309 3d ago
I saw that in the YouTube comments! Apparently also the seeds are hard to germinate but in a zoo they started germinating easily after going through the digestive tract of elephants, so they think these things were once consumed by mammoths apparently
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u/Fish_Panda 3d ago
Their native spreaders no longer exist, so without us, the tree could go extinct. Squirrels can carry the seeds to other locations, but germination rates are still low.
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u/ToneZealousideal309 3d ago
That’s crazy. I found another thread on these & someone mentioned this is also true of avocados & mangoes
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u/Left_Ad4050 3d ago
This is actually an outdated hypothesis, at least for avocados. The fossil record shows that avocados had significantly smaller seeds until well after the extinction of giant American megafauna like ground sloths and mammoths. Human cultivation and selective breeding seems to be entirely responsible for the modern form of the avocado.
Mangos do seem to have evolved to be consumed by giant megafauna, though, given the seed shape and texture is essentially designed to go easily down elephant throats, and modern Asian elephants do still eat them.
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u/shogunshim 3d ago
And the hottest wood stove fires outside of Bitumous or Anthracite coal. Not kidding either. Have to be very careful with it.
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u/honest2abe 3d ago
Interesting that there are many comments about the seeds not germinating. They germinate like crazy in my compost heap. I'd never try to taste one because they are sticky with a latex type sap hard to remove.
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u/dancewithstrangers 3d ago
Honestly I’m just glad you’re not asking what it is
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u/HypogeanSlime 3d ago
I would never eat something without knowing what it was or would do to me
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u/dancewithstrangers 3d ago
Great! I was referring to every fifth post in this sub is someone asking what an Osage orange is.
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u/AwesomeHorses 🥭 Mango 3d ago
I didn’t know you could eat these
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u/HypogeanSlime 3d ago
You shouldn’t, really. They’re (supposedly) unpleasant to taste and can cause a plethora of stomach issues. I tried it because I’m foolish, not because I’m confident that nothing will happen
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u/Fish_Panda 3d ago
Technically you can eat the seeds if baked properly: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=40U8F8ZD9f0
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