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Are Tomato Leaves Edible

treelilytreelily Posts: 1
edited July 2019 in Fruit & veg
I've just pruned my tomato plants & wondered if the leaves are actually edible. Conflicting advice on internet, US sites, cant see anything from UK. Can anyone help please?

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 26,573
    Edible doesn't necessarily mean that you'd want to eat it, just that it wouldn't poison you.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,591
    Welcome to the forum . 
    Given how bad they smell, I'd never think of eating them
    Devon.
  • Joy*Joy* Posts: 571
    edited July 2019
    I certainly wouldn't eat potato tops and since tomatoes are the same family, I wouldn't eat those either. When I think about it, there must be a reason why the are rarely attacked by slug, aphids etc. 
  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,157
    Tomatoes and Potatoes are related to Deadly Nightshade and Tobacco, so I would not eat the leaves!
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 9,947
    Having a quick Google I'm amazed by the bloggers who seem to suggest eating the leaves should be encouraged. They seem to suggest that because there's a lack of evidence that the leaves will kill you then that means they must be edible. They're all citing the same flimsy evidence though and saying things like 'well coffee contains toxins and you drink that so it's ok to eat toxic tomato leaves'. The internet at it's finest again :/ 
    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,718
    As far as I can see you can eat them. The toxin is tomatine and the dosage required to be toxic is high. (I found comments of between 400 and 600g of leaves)Tomatine is also found in green tomatoes and they are eaten. It seems that the leaves are eaten in odd out of the way places, and apparently Japan. (is that an odd or out of the way place?)

    So perhaps a few for flavouring but not as the main dish.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 14,381
    There are so many green and tasty things to eat, why consider Tomato leaves, which may, or may not be poisonous, strange.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 9,947
    I've eaten green tomatoes and even if they're not poisonous they sure do taste like it. :s
    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
  • B3B3 Posts: 26,573
    It certainly won't be the latest super food. It's too cheap and available.

    You've got to admire tomato growers for convincing us to pay a premium price for tomatoes with what would be a waste product attached. Why compost the stalks when you can get consumers to pay for it?

    The same goes for carrots with pretty fronds on the end.

    On the same rant. My husband came home the other day with celery that had been chopped in half and sealed in a plastic bag. This cost more than an unamputated bunch. I'm sure the supermarket found a good use for the lump they cut off my celery.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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