Strange bitter white root
Blueboots2
Posts: 21
I was digging out a large compust heap (for a new shed) and found inside, a large white root. It looked like a very large parsnip, but was whiter and more dense. I broke it open and gingerly put my tongue on a tiny (really tiny) bit, then spat out and rushed inside to wash my mouth out.
It was very bitter, but my concern was that it night be poisonous. I won't do that again! I thought it might be horseradish, but it was bitter not hot.
Anyone know what it might be?
Some time ago I was more cautious. A friend gave me a lump of crystal and asked what it was (I had trained as a geologist). I thought it was salt, but some purple staining within it looked poisonous and I declined to taste it to put my theory to the test. Then my friend confessed that it was some rock candy his kid had bought in the sweet shop 
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https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=783
Possibly this one? Only a guess, they have roots like parsnips. Very large parsnips eventually
In the sticks near Peterborough
Chicory root?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks! I looked up all those and I think it might have been chicory.
It might also have been Bryony, Nutcutlet (I'd never heard of that before), but I hadn't seen the rampant foliage that goes with it. I will go out later and inspect the area to see if I I can find any. Hope not!
If it was bryony it's best not to eat it
Not very good for you at all!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Have you still got it Blueboots? A photo might help.
If bryony you won't find the foliage now.
In the sticks near Peterborough
No I don't still have it unfortunately, although I might have put part of it down behind the shed while I looked up what it was (it was a few weeks ago). I'll take a look when it's not raining.
Yes, Dove, I looked it up. It has been used as a purgative for horned beasts. That doesn't sound like anything I want to be eating!
That area is now a shed and gravelled stand for a swinging garden seat. However there is still a messy bit of ground still full of honeysuckle roots. My husband plans to dig it up (I'm more reticent as I love honeysuckle). We might find more of this stuff in there.
Thanks for the advice not to look for the leaves Nutcutlet, that''ll save me a fruitless task. Why won't I find the leaves though? Is it the wrong time of year, or will I have killed it all by pulling up the big root?
It dies back completely in winter.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I'll look out for it, and repost if I find some more.
I made this mistake when I moved into my previous house and dug up what I thought were parsnips from their vegetable garden. I cooked them and although they didn't smell right I foolishly ate one mouthful which was very bitter. OH spat his out and was fine but I've never been so ill in my life. Later identified them as bryony and it was years before I would eat parsnips again!
Oh dear, that sounds nasty! We did something similar in our 20s. We collected chestnuts and roasted them for the first time. One taste told us there was something wrong. that's how we found out there are two types of chestnut - the ones you eat - and conkers!