The green onion effect...

[SteveSalmon]

I've been experimenting with growing my own vegetables and trying to learn from my mistakes and triumphs. Recently, I discovered the hard way that there are certain things that must be respected when growing and ingesting your own garden. Knowledge of the particular plant is key. Recognition of dangers involved with consuming the plant are as well. I'll explain:
A few months ago I purchased, from my local farmer's market, a few vegetables for a recipe that intended to make later the same evening. Among those vegetables were a cluster of green onions, or scallions as they are also referred to. All of the vegetables were used entirely for my recipe except for these green onions. Holding them in my hand, and hovering over the trash can, I stopped myself from discarding them and remembered something I had seen or read somewhere about sustaining the life of these green onions. Something about keeping them in a glass of water.
After diving into Youtube and Google for a few minutes, I re-discovered the information I had seen previously. Green onions could be kept in a simple glass of water and would regenerate themselves and continue to grow. So into the glass of water they went and after just a few days, the stalks were visibly taller and a few days after that, the stalks were so tall they were actually toppled over. Nothing but fresh water every few days was all I did for these onions. It was quite interesting to say the least and a bit exciting to think that if I wanted to, I wouldn't have to buy green onions ever again if I kept this going.
After about a month, I decided it was time to thin the bunch out a little bit and cut away the weaker pieces. I was also beginning to think that it was a tad wasteful to grow these things and not use or eat them. That's where I went wrong.
While changing the water and rinsing the glass I decided to peel the darker parts of some of the stalks to preserve the health of the stalk. If you've ever done this, you know already that they don't just break off, they instead, peel all the way down to the root. As I peeled these pieces, I noticed the root ball on almost all of them had become quite slimy. It was a clear slime and nothing that seemed to be alarming. Immediately after peeling these onions and getting this slime all over my fingers I made a huge mistake, I began to cut with my knife pieces to add to some spaghetti sauce I was making along with meatballs.
Not only did I leave this slime all over my fingers, and cut and handle the pieces, but I also made the insane decision to ingest a few pieces raw. The idea was to make sure they still tasted like onions and were not rotten. They actually tasted fine and so with that "piece of mind" I threw them in the sauce.
About an hour after dinner my stomach began making noises and feeling as if something wasn't right. About three hours after dinner my stomach began to cramp and tighten up. I knew better than to head up to bed, so instead, I kept myself on the couch and near the bathroom. This was getting ugly and I knew the arrival of vomit was in my near future. The tightening in my stomach manifested itself into what felt like a brick inside me. Lots of loud gurgling gas noises but produced no burps or anything else.
And then I felt my body flush of all it's heat. I could almost feel my face turn pale and the warning tingle that I was going to throw up had made it's arrival.
Off to the bathroom I went, and boy did I ever throw up for quite a few minutes. It's one thing to throw up when you have contents to hurl but, once you're out of that, the nastiest of the hurling begins as all that is left that refuses to stay down is that sour stomach acid. As much as I wanted to stop, I couldn't until whatever it was that my body was trying to get rid of was completely out. Usually with me, the evacuations don't stop with just vomiting. But this time was different, and I'll spare all who read this the finer details, but, nothing else was happening other than the repeated vomit cycles that continued for at least three rounds.
It wasn't until around midnight when I felt the confidence to let go of the toilet and head up to bed for some needed rest. I was exhausted and beginning to realize what the culprit was. Those damn slimy green onions. I only threw about 3 small pieces into my mouth and now I was paying the price. Big time.
Through the night and the nights that followed, it was pretty tough to get comfortable and even when I found a somewhat comfortable position to lay in misery, it didn't last long which forced me to reposition myself which as you can imagine didn't help with the cramped abdomen. The exhaustion continued as did the extreme discomfort from the cramps. I was getting very little sleep due to the pain and I was even considering the emergency room. Constantly, I thought about how just a few small pieces of green onions that appeared to be harmless were kicking my ass and crippling me to the bed. Then I began to think about Chris McCandless and how he must have gone through something ten times this bad in his last days, the poor fellow. Even though my pain was quite significant and no joke at all, there was comfort knowing that I was just a phone call away from a doctor or emergency room, even an ambulance ride to get there. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if I knew there was no one there to help me with my six layers of blankets and the occasional sip or two of fresh water that my loving wife had for me when I needed them.
This was a pain that I have never in my life experienced and a pain that I hope will never return. I wouldn't even wish this ordeal on my worst enemy it was that bad. But even at it's worst, still, I had that shred of comfort knowing that when I was ready to, I would give in and see a doctor. Chris never had that option. His last days must have been horrific. It's sad when you take into consideration that a few small pieces of a rotten plant can do so much damage in such a quick amount of time and put an end to everything. Im in good health and certainly above the weight I should be for my height, it's also alarming to think what I would've went through had I been malnourished as well. It took 10 days after eating a few small cuts of rotten green onion to fully recover from the sickness and pain.
I did more research on these green onions and found that refrigeration while wrapped in a paper towel and only for a few days is the best way to get the most from green onions. I've also come to the conclusion that it's best for me to just go back to the farmer's market and spend the dollar for a fresh bunch.
Know your plants before you eat them my friends.
~SS

[fredmerlin]

OK, Steve. Gross, but glad to hear you are OK, and thinking! Yes, Chris endured quite an ordeal, we are sure. I've been an avid gardener for years, and will always be learning new things. But, always wash everything, too. It is very rewarding to grow your own food. It does taste better! And, if you are growing organically, healthier, too! I feel that every good and healing 'medicine' is right there, in nature. The Native Americans have it right. Plants do heal, or kill. We only need knowledge to navigate through Mother Nature's gifts. Happy planting, and glad to actually 'see' your comments on the Forum. (not sure why, but I could not view anything until this post)

[nickparis]

Good to see you back posting Steve.

[bones]

Being poisoned by something is terrifying if you dont know how dangerous the toxin is. I was poisoned after eating a wild edible plant. [the book said it was safe ] I thought I had misidentified it and was going to die. It ended up being minor but now I always do internet research before eating any wild plant.

[SteveSalmon]

Thank you Fred.
Thank you Nick.