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I live in the Rio Grande valley, not much to forage until the rains come in. But these New Mexico Olive trees grow all up and down the river, they are always so full of fruit. But they are painfully bitter.
That's because you have to cure olives 1st.
Olive cannot be eaten straight out the tree, you have to process them before. I don't know the process but I'm sure their is a tutorial online for this.
Olives need to be brined for at least 24 hours to even be palatable.
Same here in CA. Once we get into late summer, itβs mostly just waiting for the rains to come. And itβs a long wait.
Are these edible? Iβve never heard of this plant before.
Fosterierias are generally not considered edible, but I'm from the southeast and only familiar with F. Accuminata (swamp privet). There are a lot of plants in the olive family that aren't edible including ash trees and privet.
I found an article on eattheweeds.com, and even Green Deane says they're inedible.
Interesting. In the past I read several articles saying they were, albeit bitter. I have eaten a handful of them (not all at once) without any issue, so far.
Inedible doesn't always mean you can't eat it, it can also mean that you wouldn't want to eat it.
Birch polypore comes to mind, it's not poisonous but it tastes so bad that you wouldn't want to eat it.