Today's blog entry was inspired by a reader who had a beef with me after I shared the url for a web page with recipes for fried grasshoppers.
No, I'm not kidding.
Although I've not yet worked up sufficient curiosity to munch on insects, I do know a few natural health seekers who enjoy eating grasshoppers.
I'm told grasshoppers are especially tasty when coated with a nice chocolate covering.
John the Baptist, of course, liked his grasshoppers dipped in honey.
And let us not forget Po Campo from the marvelous novel "Lonesome Dove" who fried up a mess of tasty grasshoppers every morning for Gus and Captain Call's cattle drive to Montana.
Grasshoppers, by the way, are an excellent source of protein.
Anyway, the reader who scolded me about the grasshopper recipes tickled my funny bone, so I thought you might enjoy reading a sample of the kind of letters that keep me chuckling in the CasaDay editorial chair:
Chet, shame on you passing on this info... grasshoppers are good insects... don't encourage idiots to fry them... there are enuf sickos out there who torture critters... Yes, I'm serious... no one needs to eat grasshoppers as food is not scarce and how many folks get lost in the wild? Gimme a break!My own love for critters aside, this sort of feedback is all part of being an editor who monitors the natural health circus.
And, yes, of course I'm going to provide you with the actual fried grasshopper recipe that so annoyed a reader:
Charles Griffith's Fried Grasshopper Recipe
First, catch a bunch of grasshoppers and leave them in a jar overnight to purge (if you're finicky). Then boil them for ten minutes, after which you can easily remove the large legs, and wings, too, if they are also large.Okay, now you have a recipe to add to your collection that's not going to be in the files of most natural health seekers. Click here to read Charles' original fried grasshopper recipe.
Next, in a bowl, beat one or more eggs, depending on how many grasshoppers you have, to which you add the little critters after removing the legs and wings.
Then put the beaten-egg-covered "hoppers" in a paper sack or plastic bag which contains some yellow or white cornmeal and shake.
Next, place the egg and cornmeal-covered grasshoppers one by-one into a small frying pan with an inch (2.54 cm) of hot cooking oil and fry until golden brown.
After cooking, remove the hoppers from the skillet and place them on paper towels to soak up any excess oil.
Our family experimented by eating them plain, and dipped in mustard, catsup, horseradish, or honey. We could have tried lots of other dips, too, I suppose.
We liked them best with honey; small wonder, we have heard that the "honey and locusts" that John, the Baptist, ate, was really a mis-translation of "honey and grasshoppers." Can anyone verify that?
Anyway, eating them fried and without any honey or catsup, etc., they tasted something like fried okra. We liked them well enough to have had them several times now.
Bon Appetit!
Chet "Keep Hopping" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com
To answer your question about John the Baptist eating locusts or grasshoppers...... yes, there's a mistranslation. He didn't eat either one. He ate carob, or beans from the carob pod, which come from the "honey locust" tree. Carob is also commonly called St. John's Bread.
ReplyDeleteI just looked up Mark 1:6 which describes John the Baptist's diet in eight different translations of the New Testament, most of which were some of the very latest translations and they all described John the Baptist as eating "locusts and wild honey." Ask Sandra what her source was that refutes these very recent translations.
ReplyDeleteYochana Ben ZecharYah h'Kohen (John son of Zecheriah the Priest) also known as John the Immerser did indeed eat locusts and wild honey. How do I know? Because John grew up the son of a Levite and would have only eaten that which was biblically kosher (Leviticus 11:22). Locusts ARE grasshoppers.
ReplyDeleteChristians try to make the scriptures say that which they do not - simply because in their western minds, the thought of eating that which YHWH permitted - grasshoppers - seems repulsive. But swine's flesh isn't?
Even the AENT scriptures from the Aramaic states that John did eat grasshoppers. www.aent.org
A lot of the dumber fundamentalist Christians will say or do anything to try to convince people their point of view is the ONE and ONLY Truth. Of course they are taught that point of view by their "Pastor," who most likely never got past the 8th grade before flunking out.
ReplyDeleteSo pass me a grasshopper, I'm hungry, and I want to eat what John the Baptist obviously ate!
I bet they would be so good deep fried in peanut oil with tempura batter... YUM!
ReplyDeleteWe are set for a locust plague here, so I am going to try this recipe, thank you.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
ReplyDelete