SC - Insect cleaning-OOP
LrdRas at aol.com
LrdRas at aol.com
Thu Apr 6 15:30:33 PDT 2000
In a message dated 4/6/00 1:21:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Black_Jade at bigpond.com writes:
<< I recommend a *REALLY* small knife. Tanning the hide could be a problem,
and I just don't know if it's feasible to have the head stuffed and mounted
over the fireplace. >>
Knives are not involved at all.
Insects like lobster is best cooked alive or fresh frozen. Like seafood they
deteriorate rapidly when dead so live cooking is best. Pre-chilling more
active species is recommended. The cleaning procedure is not any more
unappetizing than cleaning and butchering larger animals. But unlike those
animals, you usually have to do it yourself.
Cleaning and preparation varies with insect species. For instance, mealworms
are purged by some people although in reality there is little or no need for
doing so since meal bran is a healthy food and that is what they eat. Purging
is done by putting a piece of apple in the newspaper wrapping they arrive in.
In a couple of days you will not have to worry about purging or the newspaper
which by then is consumed. This is NOT recommended because mealworms can
turn into cannibals and you risk having your meal eat itself. :-) Toss the
worms in a colander to remove any debris. Dump onto wax paper so they can't
crawl away too fast. Pick out and discard any dead worms. Any cast skins and
other debris remaining. Rinse in a colander. Put in plastic ziploc bags and
freeze.
Bees are the easiest to clean. Simply freeze them rinse in COLD water to
avoid stings. Drain. Pour onto paper towels. pat dry. They are then ready for
packaging and refreezing or for use in recipes 1 cp. of bees weighs about 1/5
of a pound.
Bee brood is prepared by putting the comb into boiling water until the wax
melts. The wax rises to the surface and the brood sinks to the bottom. Remove
the wax and strain. Package for freezing or use immediately.
The above information was taken from 'Entertaining With Insects' as decried
in a previous post with my additional preparation notes added.
Ras
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