esculent

adj

1. (formal)Suitable for eating; eatable, edible.

   “[T]he Lacedæmonians, […] had proclaimed that any man that would, ſhould carry in Meale, Wine, Cheeſe, and all other eſculents neceſſary for a Siege, into the Iland, appointing for the ſame a great reward of ſiluer: […]”

   “Now may you Tranſplant moſt ſorts of Eſculent, or Phyſical plants, &c.”

   “BLUBBER. […] either that which is of various figures, being covered with a hard callous skin, conteining an eſculent pulpy ſubstance: or that which is of a fleſhly conſiſtence, having no hard skin, being of various ſhapes and bigneſſes, ſome of them ſtinging the hand upon the touch.”

   “[M]oſt of the fungi are indeed of a hurtful quality, and with reſpect to the whole tribe the eſculent are very few. Eſculent muſhrooms are very nutritive, very readily alcaleſcent, and more ſo without intermediate aceſcency than any other vegetable; […]”

   “I find I incorporate gneiss and coal and long-threaded moss and fruits and grains and esculent roots, / And am stucco'd with quadrupeds and birds all over, / And have distanced what is behind me for good reasons, / And call any thing close again when I desire it.”

2. (figuratively, formal)“Good enough to eat”; attractive.

   “[H]ow could she have known that Harry had written in his notebook, shortly before he encountered her comely, esculent self, "Better that her neck should bear the traces of my loving teeth"? Better than what? One is afraid to ask.”

   “My custodian was now the 'Old Bill', the magistrate was one of those soppy, earnest chaps who long to hear of broken homes and deprived childhoods and Johanna was looking esculent in a cinnamon sheath such as you could not buy with a lifetime's trading-stamps.”

noun

1. (formal)Something edible, especially a vegetable; a comestible.

   “Thou neuer hadſt in thy houſe to ſtay mens ſtomackes / A peece of Suffolke cheeſe, or Gammon of Bacon, / Or any eſculent, as the learned call it, / For their emolument, but ſheere drinke only.”

   “[T]here is a double Vſe of this Cutting off the Leaues: For in Plants, where the Root is the Eſculent, as Radiſh, and Parſnips, it will make the Root the greater: And ſo it will doe to the Heads of Onions. And where the Fruit is the Eſculent, by Strengthening the Root, it will make the Fruit alſo the greater.”

   “They [the Essenes] faſted from meats, not only fleſh, but fiſh, and all other eſculents, but onely ſalt, bread, and herbs; but held not thoſe other meats unlawfull to bee eaten, from which they faſted.”

   “I am of the Opinion that Man is not a drinking (becauſe not a carnivorous) Animal, at leaſt no more than a Rabbet, or Sheep, forc'd to it when the Graſs is Sunburnt, parch'd and dry; for if we liv'd as did the Antediluvians, on Fruits, Roots and Herbs, &c. thoſe Eſculents had Moiſture and Succulency enough to abate, (or rather to prevent) Thirſt.”

2. (formal, specifically)An edible mushroom.

   “[Morchella] esculentoides [is] similar to Morchella esculenta, a European esculent, whose name, appropriately, means "edible".”