I've never eaten or cooked insects, but I wanted to give it a try some time. Now, we found a few grubs 4-6 cm in length, that we think to be cockchafer grubs, in one of the pots on our balcony. So I think of giving it a try – my approach would be beer batter and deep frying (Everything is tasty with fat), but there are a few things I want to know before.
By "we think their are cockchafer grubs" I mean that the pictures on wikipedia fit.
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The grubs obvioulsy eat earth, their rear parts are very dark. How do I best get rid of the grub-shit/earth from the grubs? I don't want to eat earth because it a) does not sound tasty and b) earth contains pathogen building bacteria.
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How do I assure that they are not poisonous, or horribly unhealthy?
So, has anyone eaten these grubs and can share some experience?
Edit to add: I live in southern germany. Cockchafer beetles at least where eaten in the 19th century in France, I found no info on the grubs.
Best Answer
A Coupl of years ago there was acase of a guy who to show his machismo gave himself and his girl some raw snails and a few weeks later they died from having their brains eaten away, cook creepy crawlies. quote: Tests found that his meningitis was caused by a worm normally seen in rat lungs, but also carried in slugs and snails. He was hospitalized for 17 days with brain lesions, and it was five months before he could resume classes. A friend of the student also ate some raw slugs as part of the dare but threw them up, losing the bet. The doctors said there had been numerous cases of meningitis since 1971 caused by snails or slugs. One Australian child died after eating live snails, and one patient contracted meningitis after eating lettuce covered with snail slime, according to a report in the Medical Journal of Australia. and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiostrongyliasis