To fear pee or not to fear pee?

I find that once you get wild edible plants on your radar, you realize that, even in an urban environment, there is an abundance of free, tasty and nutritous plants all around you. Just there for the picking.

This revelation of abundance is unfortunately offset by the (quite reasonable) concern that your wild edible may very well have been peed on and not be safe to eat.

I recently participated in a lively exchange on a foraging page about some concerns I personally had about eating some hairy bittercress growing out of one of my balcony containters. Specifically,  due to the fact that my cat makes it her business to do her business in my plant pots, I was worried that the hairy bittercress might not be fit to eat. This in turn brought on a whole discussion about wild plant foraging and the whole pee/poo question.

Some of the people posting comments were in the squeamish camp like myself, a couple of people were  of the pronounced manly-man chest beating variety that openly derided me and my ilk for fearing a bit of wee, but by and large the comments were helpful and constructive.

Based on that exchange, as well as a bit of web research, I came away from this with the following helpful tips/thoughts when foraging for wild edibles:

1. Location, location, location:
Common sense, but, don't forage in locations that you know are dog walk central;
Don't pick from the base of city trees;
Avoid plants that have been pooed near/on like the plague (again, common sense that one).

2. Pick up:
Pick plants that are above the level that a cocked leg can aim (say, above knee level)

3. Check for "burns" on your plants:
If in doubt about your location, location, location, you can check for burns on your plants. Apparently urine being very acidic will actually burn the leaves that have been urinated on. For me personally, this was a very helpful tip in that I really like having this visual indicator. My imagination tends to be a bit on the active side, so being able to look for something like this is really reassuing to me.

Here is a great video from Chris Phyto explaining how to check your plant for pee burn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGRgT6MwNZ4

Using the advice in this video, I was able to quickly detect pee burn on a bit of hairy bittercrest growing on a sidewalk near my work:

Hairy bittercress(En)/Cardamine hérissée(Fr)/Cardamine hirsuta(L)

4. Wash it or cook it:
Unless you are confident about the area that you are foraging in, wait to nibble until you have washed or cooked your plants.

5. Really how clean is what you buy at the store?:
I found the following text from Berkeley Open Source Food (http://forage.berkeley.edu/) to make the point well:

Organic foods are grown in manure and compost. Conventional produce is grown with fertilizer and pesticide. All food can be contaminated with bacteria, viruses, and organic and inorganic residues. E. coli O157:H7 contamination of commercial vegetables has killed people in the US and Europe. Any food can be contaminated before or after it is picked, in transit, in storage, and in preparation.
You might consider washing food before you eat it, whatever the source. 

So there you have it ladies and germs. Food for thought.

Myself, the information I have gathered has made me feel more confident about safely foraging plant foods. Not cavalier. But more confident in my ability to spot clearly contaminated specimens, and in parallel, more motivated to search out gathering areas that are more off the beaten path.