Before blackberry season gets under way...

[pseudomonas]

When I was a kid back in the 80s, I was told not to pick and eat fruit growing next to busy roads. In these days of near-universal unleaded petrol, does this advice still hold true at all?

Comments

[tig_b]

Depends how much lead settled in the soil and plants before the changeover. Fresh lead can be partly washed off, internally absorbed into the poor plants is nasty.

[alextiefling]

When nanaya and I pick roadside cherries, we wash them in potassium permanganate solution, and then wash that off thoroughly, before eating. So far, neither the fumes nor the permanganate have killed us.

[pseudomonas]

Why permanganate?

I don't think that you'd've been killed even in the days of leaded petrol; effects are cumulative and not necessarily lethal.

[alextiefling]

nanaya had it as a recommendation from someone. I forget the rationale, but I agreed with it at the time!

[alextiefling]

It occurs to me that as blackberries are drupes, they are more absorbent than cherries. This means they'd soak up the permanganate (bad) and the petrol fumes (also bad) much more.

So I'd strongly advise against using permanganate on them, and against eating them if they've grown beside a busy road.

[pseudomonas]

I thought cherries were drupes too?

[holdthesky]

Don't wash food in Potassium Permangenate! Manganism is a nasty illness, quite like lead or mercury poisoning with additional apparent Parkinsonism. It's not just welders who get Manganism: it's a reasonably common affliction of folk making or taking semi-synthetic drugs, caused by Manganese in its Potassium Permangenate form, where it's sometimes used as an oxidiser. (In an interesting twist, Manganese in a molecule used to replace lead as a petrol additive has also caused health problems).

As a strong oxidiser, it's useful as a disinfectant, but so's bleach, ammonia and chlorine. I might wash my feet in them, or put them on a sore, if I was recommended to, but I'd stop short of washing my food in them, unless I was working in some kind of proper dose-controlled conditions and working in the mechanically-recovered meat industry!

/If/ there's a significant quantity of Lead on the surface of fruit, and /if/ it's not effective only to wash it off with water, /then/ a chelator like Citrate might be worth it. I suspect industry would use EDTA, but Citrate is probably easier to get hold of and easier to safely dose. Though most lead is probably easily washed off in dust or else internalised in the fruit.

Stay off Chromic Acid cider too! ;-)

(Fwiw, I do eat roadside blackberries, after washing them).

[gerald_duck]

It's probably worth worrying about particulates from diesel fumes, benzene, sulphur, general grime, etc. as well.

Back in the day, brake pads were made with asbestos, so brake dust was probably as least as large a concern as leaded petrol…

On the other hand, are there not enough blackberries available in hedgerows by less major roads, and wouldn't blackberry picking be more pleasant there?

[lnr]

Personally I'd probably still avoid ones from by major busy roads, as they'll still be unpleasantly polluted. Or at least give them a more thorough wash before use. I wouldn't worry so much about ones by more minor roads, or in my case the ones near the railway.

Seeing how horribly dusty the plant looks is probably the main thing I use as a guide - if it would put me off eating them right there then I don't bother picking them.

[mobbsy]

I'd still avoid them, just from a general feeling that whatever is in the particulate matter from exhausts, eating it probably isn't very good for you.

If you want to go blackberry picking in rural areas of Cambridgeshire, give us a shout, they're often good dog walking places too. (I know of at least one particularly good patch on one of our regular walks). Same goes for sloes, haws and elderberries too, come the season.

[atreic]

I eat roadside blackberries, in that if I am walking along and there is a roadside blackberry that looks tasty, I eat it. This has not killed me yet, but probably isn't doing my life expectancy much good. [On the other hand, my reduced life expectancy has a lot more blackberries in it]

But I don't go blackberrying at roadside blackberry patches - if I was going out to pick a tub full, I'd go somewhere not near the road

[rowan]

Well, you're presumably taking in a lot of the crap you're worried about anyway, just via your lungs...

[tarchannan]

Thanks for asking - I've been wondering.

Other question is How Far from a busy road a berry should be for there to be less concern...