Are conkers edible?

[shizzle]

Are they actually edible?

[dirrty]

eat em & find out.

[shizzle]

It could be fatal! I have like 1kg of them in my garden pmsl.

[reeana]

Here http://iq.lycos.co.uk/qa/show/50896/Are+conkers+edible%3F+Cookable%3F+Anyone+got+any+h alfway+decent+recipes%3F+(Squirrels+need+not+aappl y),/

[mangle]

Yeah they are

Just dont cos wont you get ill or something.

[shizzle]

*Takes the risk*, I already washed.

[Blue.Neon]

aren't they called chesnuts or summit :S

im sure you can eat them... squrils do :p

[shizzle]

I don't know, I state them as conkers :P anyway, I will try soon.

[Heart Break Kid]

yes they are
bag full of them from tescos putt em in a pan :P
lush!

[spareparts]

Here http://iq.lycos.co.uk/qa/show/50896/Are+conkers+edible%3F+Cookable%3F+Anyone+got+any+h alfway+decent+recipes%3F+(Squirrels+need+not+aappl y),/ (http://iq.lycos.co.uk/qa/show/50896/Are+conkers+edible%3F+Cookable%3F+Anyone+got+any+h alfway+decent+recipes%3F+%28Squirrels+need+not+aap ply%29,/)


The nuts contain high concentrations of a saponin-class toxin called Aesculin, which is toxic to many animals including humans because it causes Haemolysis (destruction of red blood cells). The saponin can be eliminated by leaching the pulverized nuts in multiple changes of boiling water, to yield a wholesome starchy porridge once important to some Native American tribes.

From the above link, didn't anyone read that? It doesn't sound like they are edible unless you boil them loads in water but changing the water each time.

[Jord]

My bros wife Used to eat them I think.

[Fehm]

That was the most random thread ive ever come accross lol
And no there not are they?
lol

[Neversoft]

Yeah I eat them all the time.

[SUPERhanna.]

I think you can eat them, but there really hard i dunno how you would soften them so you can chew them

[Moh]

The nuts contain high concentrations of a saponin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saponin)-class toxin called aesculin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculin), which is toxic to many animals including humans because it causes hemolysis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemolysis) (destruction of red blood cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_blood_cell)). The saponin can be eliminated by leaching the pulverized nuts in multiple changes of boiling water, to yield a wholesome starchy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch) porridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porridge) once important to some Native American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas) peoples. Some animals, notably deer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer) and squirrels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel), are resistant to the toxins and can eat the nuts directly. An interesting side-note is that aesculin is a natural pH indicator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH_indicator) which, when extracted turns from colorless to fluorescent blue under UV light (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_light) in an acidic pH (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH) range.
California buckeye Aesculus californica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_californica) is known to cause poisoning of honeybees (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeybee) from toxic nectar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nectar) (native bee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee) species not being affected). Other buckeye species are thought to have the same effect, but the toxins are diluted because the trees are not usually abundant enough in any one area.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]
The wood is very pale whitish-brown, fairly soft and little-used. Uses include cheap furniture, boxes and firewood.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]
In Britain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) and Ireland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland) the game of conkers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers) remains a common childhood pastime.
In some cultures, the buckeye tree is thought to bring good luck.
The Mexican buckeye (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_buckeye) is related to Aesculus, but is in a separate genus, Ungnadia.
Extractives of the seeds have been shown to be useful for the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency. [9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-chestnut_%28tree%29#cite_note-8)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-chestnut_(tree)

[J0SH]

Yeah they are, they can smash your teeth though so don't just bite them, use a wrench or something to crack the shell open, the nut is pretty tasty.

[Leetzgirl]

Yeh, you can eat them, but you need to cook them lol

[GommeInc]

Conkers as in the ones you play the game with (strangely called conkers?). No they're not when raw, I found that out the hard way when I was little. As spareparts said though, they maybe edible after cooking so worth a try. They taste really nice though, shame they make you feel pain like you've never felt pain before :(

[Thai-Man-Land]

Horse Chesnuts (conkers) and Chestnuts ( the ones you eat at schristmas with panchetta and sprouts) are two COMPLETLY different things.

[DaveTaylor]

You can cook them, they are roast chestnuts :|

[shizzle]

Hmmm, didn't want to take the risk.