Chef's recipe for disaster

When Antony Worrall Thompson, the celebrity chef, used a magazine interview to detail the joys of foraging for wild herbs, he recommended a little-known plant as a salad leaf.

In abundant supply, locally grown and organically produced, henbane would seem to tick all the boxes for television chefs who urge us to embrace a healthier and more environmentally friendly diet.

There was, however, one rather glaring problem – it contains a potentially fatal poison.



Henbane, a close relative of deadly nightshade, is often known as stinking nightshade, because of its pungent odour. Its name, derived from Anglo-Saxon, means “killer of hens”, and consumption can cause hallucinations, convulsions, vomiting and death.

Yesterday Mr Worrall Thompson, and Healthy & Organic Living, who published his culinary wisdom, issued an apology, reminding readers that henbane “is a very toxic plant and should never be eaten”.

Healthy & Organic Living, which has a circulation of 40,000, says it is “the only magazine dedicated to providing information and advice for modern women who want to discover how to lead a healthy and organic lifestyle”.