May apple explosion

May apples just started showing up everywhere. Maybe I'll get to try them this year before the deer eat them all. I'm thinking a couple strategically places milk creates will work.

How do you use them, Trace?  

I looked at your post originally thinking it was about an apple tree with a ton of immature apples on it. ha

No idea what this plant is. What are we looking at here? I suspect that this is something we just don't have in the UK

I am experiencing a similar May Apple explosion.

They don't seem to grow up where I live now, but I know them from points south. I've never eaten their fruit, and I'm not sure I've even ever seen one yellow.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podophyllum if you want to know more about them.

Hi Christopher,

It is rare to see the fruit.  Wildlife of all kinds take care of the fruit quickly.

Kim Goodwin wrote:How do you use them, Trace?  

I looked at your post originally thinking it was about an apple tree with a ton of immature apples on it. ha

They are a small fruit that is supposed to be delicious, with a tropical taste, maybe similar to guava with pineapple hints.  Different people describe it differently.  I've never had the pleasure of eating one.  The animals get them all every year.  I will figure out a way to protect a few to try them, hopefully this year.

They have a very narrow window that they can be eaten.  You have to get them when they turn from green to yellow.  They need t be eaten when they are fully ripe, but go bad quickly after.  I've read that the seeds are poisonous, but I'm not certain.  After all, I've read that about apple seeds as well.

Trace Oswald wrote:

They have a very narrow window that they can be eaten.  You have to get them when they turn from green to yellow.  They need t be eaten when they are fully ripe, but go bad quickly after.  I've read that the seeds are poisonous, but I'm not certain.  After all, I've read that about apple seeds as well.

Got it! I thought to look it up on Greene Dean's website and he tells ways of preparing them, as well. Eat The Weeds - May Apple, the Forgotten Fruit

He does say the seeds are not to be eaten:

Green Dean wrote: When unripe the Mayapple resembles a lime. Then it turns a soft yellow and wrinkles a little, see to the right. That is ripe. The rest of the plant is also often dying at that time as well. Trim off the ends, do not eat the seeds. If you cook with it remove the seeds first.

I looked other places first for mayapple, and most reported the whole plant as being poisonous. This is definitely a trend I've seen over the years on the internet.  I think people started by just being very cautious about liability, but then it starts to be lost knowledge that you can eat a lot more plants than are listed online.  Knowing how to eat them is often the key. Kind of like cassava root being poisonous if you don't know how to prepare it.

Green Dean also mentions  on his website that some (and some in particular) university extension services seem to believe that ALL plants are poisonous.  A mild exaggeration, but I looked at one of the sites they were saying this about, and if you go by their recommendations indigenous people and the settlers here wouldn't have had much to eat!

Looking forward to hearing the results of the taste test.