Our younger son, known on this blog as Flamebrain, is home for the weekend. He arrived bearing gifts. Along with an assortment of stouts and ales that we can't procure locally, he brought us a sampling of his home-brewed ciders and sodas. We sampled an apple-cherry cider last night with dinner. Quite tasty.
In addition to the brews, he brought a variety of gingery treats for his mom and chocolate and coconut confections for his dad. And, being our son, he brought something just a little different for us to try: boiled silkworms. Nothing says love to a parent like a can of boiled silkworms ;)
As you can see, there are no English instructions on the can. So exactly how does one eat a boiled silkworm? Off to the internets to find out.
According to several sources, the bugs are "perfectly safe" to eat directly from the can.
Being an intrepid soul when it comes to eating, I immediately plucked one of the little suckers out of the soup and popped it in my mouth. Smelled sort of funky, but it tasted pretty good.
Flamebrain and Treebread each tried one. The consensus was that they were okay but would be better if they had a little crunch to them.
I spread them out on a baking dish and popped them into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
A plate of roasted silkworms with just a splash of apple cider vinegar. I ate the majority of the little bugs. Flamebrain and Treebeard ate a few, but they didn't care for the smell.
***What I learned about boiled silkworms:
To obtain silk for making cloth, the cocoon must be intact. This means that the critter inside must be dispatched before it completes its metamorphosis. Said dispatching is accomplished by dropping the cocoons into boiling water. It takes a bunch of cocoons to get enough silk to make cloth, so one ends up with loads of pupae. What to do with all those bugs?? Eat them, of course! They are inexpensive and high in protein -- what's not to love? You can eat them boiled, fried, or roasted. Try one sometime.
6 comments:
I think I'll stick to Easter eggs for my holiday fare. But I'd try one if someone else cooked them. Happy Spring!
Woodswalker,
Haha, I imagine a lot of folks would opt for the Easter eggs. The silkworms really weren't bad. I'd eat them again ;)
omg this is SO outta my league. I'm such a weenie and YOU are CRAZY brave. I will exit rooms you occupy by backing out and bowing intermittently.
Hahaha...as long as you don't forget to kiss my ring, too!
I guess it's comforting to know that the poor creatures are used for food also. I guess I'd try it too - once.
Garden Lily,
From what I've read, it seems that the silkworms used to produce cloth are no longer able to survive on their on in the wild.
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