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Ever eaten so much food you thought you might die? Not exactly likely, sure, but at the very end of the spectrum of possibility, actually, genuinely, die? That last bit of naan, the extra kebabs that were best left unordered, the milkshake no-one ended up wanting, but you couldn't see go to waste...

Let's face it, it's not going to happen. But if you were to gobble down one too many Apricots, cyanide-containing-stones and all, there's a definite chance, as fatalities in large Apricot growing areas such as Turkey have proven.

Investigating the darker side of our culinary world, Asylum intrepidly discovers the foodstuffs that could actually kill you, after the jump.

(All photos courtesy of Getty Images unless mentioned otherwise)

Cherries

Ah cherries... so sweet, so innocent, so delicious. Good in a pie, on their own, or in exceptionally camp drinks, cherries' little secret is contained in their leaves and seeds. If the seed is damaged in anyway, such as chewing, it releases prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide), which as a cyanogenic in large enough quantities will eventually give you a nasty case of death. The same applies for its family members, such as peaches and plums, so look out for those buggers too.

Deadliness rating: 4/10

You'll have to make a bit of an effort to eat too many – though larger doses can lead to difficulty breathing and kidney failure and known reactions include coma, convulsions, and respiratory arrest.



Mushrooms

Arguably the sneakiest fungus known to man, the infamous 'Death Cap' mushroom looks a lot like the perfectly edible 'straw mushroom', leaving unsuspecting toadstool chompers suffering from liver and kidney damage. Almost all known mushroom-related deaths can be put down to this cheeky fella, including such big mushroom-eating names as Roman Emperor Claudius and Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.

Deadliness rating: 9/10

Clever, wily, and very lethal, this is a mushroom not to be messed with. A few antidotes are known but otherwise look forward to a bit of intracranial hemorrhage, pancreatitis, and heart attacks.



Rhubarb

Rhubarb, the least famous pie-filler, and an often-overlooked vegetable, is never served with its impressively large leaves. The reason? Yep, you guessed it, poison. It contains the kidney-killing oxalic acid, the stuff that makes kidney stones. And if you've met anyone who's had them, you'll know it's no laughing matter – think of the most painful sensation you've ever had, add some more pain, and then even more pain than that, and you're not even close.

Deadliness rating: 3/10

The leaves are incredibly bitter, which is normally a good pointer to stop eating them, but if someone did have a crumble-loving death wish, 5kgs of the stuff would have to be slipped into nana's finest to kill you outright.



Potatoes

As if its susceptibility to crop-destroying potato blight (responsible for great famines worldwide) weren't enough, potatoes can also kill you in other, more ingenious ways. Its poisonous stems and leaves aside, once the 'tater goes green, it means it's full of glycoalkaloid poison, and is in no way good for your health, so leave it out the mash at all costs.

Deadliness rating: 5/10

High heat normally gets rid of the bad stuff (i.e. boil 'em) but people unfortunate enough to drink potato-leaf tea may well slip into a coma and eventually die.



Nutmeg

First things first – nutmeg is a hallucinogenic drug. If you have enough, it's like taking amphetamines, but with the added bonus of nausea, fever, and headaches to boot. 7.5 grams and you'll start convulsing, 10g and you'll hallucinate, and a whole one will leave you feeling "nutmeg psychosis" and mind-blowing sense of impending doom.

Deadliness rating: 7/10

Nutmeg death has happened twice in recorded history (in 1908 and 2001) but it is entirely possible, if amazingly trippy.



Tomatoes

Some chefs add the tomatoes stems and leaves to their dishes to improve the fruit / vegetable / berry's flavour, but if left in the mix, there's agitation and stomach pain to be had by all who eat it. The same goes for the green, unripened ones you might fancy go into that limited edition Heinz ketchup (they didn't). Again, tomato tea is also to be avoided.

Deadliness rating: 3/10

Are you going to be hunting down tomato stems and leaves to munch on as you watch Anchorman for the fifteenth time? Our prediction: not so much.



Almonds

Not technically a nut (much like how tomatoes are not technically a vegetable) bitter almonds require a good deal of preparation to remove the 4–9 mg of hydrogen cyanide contained in each one. Heat treat them to remove the bad stuff, and if you're desperate for a bitter almond fix, don't go to New Zealand, where they've officially banned them.

Deadliness rating: 6/10

Tasty, flavoursome pseudo-nuts, bitter almonds are easily eatable, and choc-a-block full of cyanide. Their danger is great enough for the US to restrict the sale of the raw variety to protect its citizens.



Apples

Though your schoolyard mates might have boasted about the number of whole apples they could engulf down their pie holes, they were actually filling up their bodies with another source of cyanide, released on digestion, hidden within the pips. So rare in adult humans as to make no matter, there's still a small chance you might end up vomiting up what's meant to keep the doctor away.

Deadliness rating: 2/10

You'll actually have to try hard on this one. (Photo credit: Flickr: Shielnaik)



Castor Seeds

Though you've probably never seen their seeds, the castor plant is where castor oil comes from, which is a part of our everyday culinary lives, cropping up in food additives, flavouring and chocolate. The seeds themselves, however, are full of ricin – a substance so lethal half a grain of sand's worth (500 micrograms) will have you popping your clogs off in no time. Removed before being made into the oil, ricin isn't to be worried about... unless you've chewed and swallowed four to eight castor seeds, in which case, it's probably all over bar the extreme vomiting.

Deadliness rating: 9/10

Sure, it's not going to pop up in your shopping bag on the way back from Sainsbury's, but castor seed milkshakes don't come recommended. Interestingly, it takes 4 seeds will kill a rabbit, 5 a sheep, 6 a horse, 7 a pig, 11 a dog, but 80 to kill a duck. Now you know. (Photo credit: Flickr: Miheco)



Blowfish (Fugu)

Those in Hong Kong and Japan might call it a delicacy, but we'd just call it a death wish. The most poisonous thing you could ever order to your table, its liver, muscles, ovaries, and skin is full of a poison called tetrodotoxin, 1,200 times more deadly than cyanide. Only careful preparation from a three-year-trained chef (see video) can save you from potential paralysis and death in four to six hours.

Deadliness rating: 10/10

Are you insane? This is the king of deadly foods, and definitely not one for dinner parties. Trust us, they don't end well. (Photo credit: Flickr: Petrjan)


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