I am well aware of how hazardous giant hogweed is, before anybody posts trivial responses to this.
A friend of mine made himself a very nice musical instrument (a harmonic whistle resembling a Hungarian tilinko) from part of a giant hogweed stem. His had been detoxified - he lives on the shore of the Forth, and the stem was washed up after sloshing around in the sea, maybe for weeks (the Forth has strong and chaotic tides). Cutting, polishing, painting and playing it produced no adverse reactions, so the toxin must have all gone after its saline soak and subsequent drying.
I would like to try the same, using an intact stem to make a longer, deeper instrument. There's plenty of giant hogweed growing around here, but I don't have a private ocean to dunk it in. Any ideas on how to detoxify the stuff at home? I was thinking of simply standing the stems in a bucket of saline or alcohol, but maybe there's some specific chemical agent that will deactivate furanocoumarin? Is drying enough? (I doubt it).
And to repeat, yes I know I'm talking about handling something as hazardous as a chemical warfare agent. I'm thinking Tyvek overalls, rubber gloves and a full-face mask when harvesting it (using a small handsaw which will be immediately disposed of along with the clothing).
============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557