This may sound kinda silly, but I read somewhere (long ago and far away) that either carrots or celery are very closely related to a poisonous plant. I am having no luck in finding out which vegetable has the toxic relatives due to my faulty memory. Anyone know anything about this?
They are both in the same family as, and distantly related to the hemlocks:
YYeah, I was surprised too.
Even if this turns out to be true, I don’t think there is much cause for alarm. Fruits that belong to the rose family (like apricots & apples) have poisonous seeds but people still eat them anyway. Some other near misses:
Avocado leaves
Castor Beans
Potato sprouts
Tomato vines
You may think that leaves and vines are not worth mentioning, but some people may be operating under the assumption that if any part of a plant is safe to eat, then every part must be safe.
You may have heard something like this which can easily be alarming if taken out of context.
Until only one or two hundred years ago, European society (and American culture to a lesser extent) thought the tomato was poisonous. Whether this was because of its relation to the deadly nightshade family or merely its rather recent arrival on the culinary scene from the New World world is a matter of conjecture. People called it the “witch apple” or “love apple.” It was precisely this last nickname that is responsible for another old tradition.
In colonial Europe and America, the “love apple” was a (somewhat) traditional wedding gift. It was fairly common for a newly wed couple to receive a ripe red tomato that would be placed on their new home’s mantlepiece (most likely as a “fertility” gift). This practice (although fading) is still present in today’s society. Most older people at these boards will remember that if their mother sewed, she usually had a small red pin cushion in the shape of a tomato. This is its origin.
Yes, that’s the information I read so long ago. Related to the hemlock family, eh? I’ve always felt that celery and the top portion of carrots (near the greens) certainly taste like something you really shouldn’t be eating.
Well, colour me “old”, Zenster, cause I do remember my mom having one of those tomato-shaped pin cushions. It never occurred to me before that it was tomato-shaped; it just looked like a red blob to me as a young punk. And she did have five kids - hmmmm.
I should have said, “Most mature people…”. Forgive me.
I thought the tomato anecdote might resonate with some people around here.
Carrots are also related to the anise family. It is why they have a faintly sweet flavor.
My brother always ate the whole apple core and all. Can’t you buy apricot kernals to munch on
Don’t forget rhubarb leaves. Always wondered how people came to eat rhubarb.
Ag: “Ig, go eat leaves”
Ig: “munch, munch…ACk, cough, hack… thump”
Ag: “Og, look like leaves not good… go eat stem”
Og: “Up yours… me eat potato”
Cite? Or are you just blindly repeating an old urban legend?
The Wikipedia agrees with Zenster, in this instance.
I am not saying it’s not true but I would not give that Wikipedia article much weight. I would like to see more substantial proof.
Ok, how about the University of Massachusetts:
Jeeze, that kinda breaks my heart - all those years of luscious, ripe tomatoes being thrown away because people thought they were poisonous.
Hmm. That gives a completely different connotation to calling a sexy woman a “tomato.”
As others have said it’s shocking how many plants people eat are closely related to poisonous ones or have poisonous parts on the same plant that we eat.
Both my mother and father grew up very poor and out in the boonies so they had to know what in the wild was was yummy and what could make them sick or kill them and thankfully they showed me what they knew. Some of the yummy ones look a lot like the poisonous ones and if you don’t know what your doing you can easily mess ourself up.
Another thing is how some things can make you sick unless you prepare them properly. Acorns are nasty until you boil them in changes of water until the water stops turning yellowish brown.
Well, you gotta give all of those spudboys something to lust after, even if nobody comprehends their potatoes.
Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, chili peppers, bell peppers— all of them are nightshades (Solanaceae). Fortunately, not deadly nightshades. Look at the stem and leaves of a deadly nightshade and you can see the physical resemblance to those food plants.
Carrot is not toxic; in fact it helps the liver function. It actually helps the liver to detoxify. It’s celery that contains some toxins. That is why it numbs the tongue slightly. That doesn’t make celery “poisonous”—too strong a word. Eating moderate amounts of celery should not be harmful to a human, but I wouldn’t pig out on it if I were you.
Cite to a .pdf file: Examples of Biological Toxins. Celery has “coumarins.”
Hadn’t heard of Avocado leaves, but rhubarb leaves are a definite poison. One of the deadliest things in the kitchen garden.
Celery tastes poisonously awful to me 
This surprises me. From The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy:
Jeff Lichtman: Ah, but do they ever eat them raw? Cooking can destroy toxins.