What: leaves, ripe berries
How: berries raw, leaves cooked
Where: yards, fields
When: summer, fall
Nutritional Value: assorted vitamins, minerals
Dangers: high concentrations of toxic alkaloids (solanine and others) found in green berries and smaller amounts in leaves. Cooking leaves reduces toxins to safe levels.
Black nightshade bush.
Closeup of black nightshade flower (white petals, yellow center.
Closeup of black nightshade fruit. Ripe fruit is black, unripe fruit is speckled green.
Don't eat the green fruit!!
Black nightshade leaves.
Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) is one of the most popular vegetables of Asia and Southern Europe yet here in North America it is lumped in with it's much more poisonous family members such as belladonna. Its green, immature berries do contain solanine but the ripe berries are safe to eat with the preferred method being to bake them in pies. The leaves also contain a small amount of the solanine but are rendered safe by any cooking method. I like the leaves cooked in curry sauce then poured over chicken and rice.
