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Texas Gardening

Can I Eat That?

15 years ago

There appear to be grapevines on some trees on the undeveloped property next door to us. They look just like grapes, the leaves and vines look just like the grapevines I see for sale, and the birds are eating them. Is there any way to tell for sure if these are safe for human consumption? Are there any plants around here known to be poisonous that resemble grapes?

Thanks so much! And I promise, I'm not trying them out until I feel absolutely safe!

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Comments (6)

john_bonzo
15 years ago
There are Texas native muscadines - that is probably what it is. More than likely it is safe to eat. They probably have a pretty thick skin but should taste ok. Do you have a photo you can post?

This is very harsh general rule, but usually rough vines that hang from trees are not poisonous, while smooth vines that "hug" trees are poisonous.
texanjana
15 years ago
They are probably safe to eat, but really sour. I wouldn't go and eat any wild plants unless I knew for sure what they were, though!

We had a wild grapevine come up in a bed among some Live Oaks. It got really huge before we realized what it was. The trunk of the vine grew to be about 5 inches in circumference in one season. When the tree service was here to trim our trees that summer, the arborist told me it would kill the trees very quickly. We finally got rid of it with a product called Vine X.
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trsinc
15 years ago
You know, I've been wondering the same thing. We have "wild grapes" around here but I haven't known what was what... It's dark now, but I'll take a pic tomorrow. I've never posted a pic before so we'll see how that goes. I've been wanting to know if I can eat the leaves or grapes. The thing I have in my yard that I let grow is moving fast! It also springs up here and there and is very hard to remove even when small.
momof6meme2four
15 years ago
They would make great jelly. I think they are called mustang grapes.The high acid content can irritate skin and the mouth. Using gloves when picking is recommended.
fool4flowers
15 years ago
Oooh, I love muscadines. I used to have them growing by the creek in Lousiana and make great tasty jelly so easy. All you do is boil them down making sure you use some under ripe ones as well as ripe for the pectin and add sugar and cook it down. So simple and sooo good. The ripe ones are good to eat you just pop them out of the skins and suck on them and spit out the seeds. They are sweet. The skin on those are thick.
ltcollins1949
15 years ago
We have mustang grapes growing wild all over down here in south Texas.

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