eat-bolete Posted November 7, 2014 Report Share Posted November 7, 2014 This may be a very basic question but I can't find any sufficient info online, so I'm asking for help from you. I found a bunch of slippery jacks today, but their pores are covered with hopping elongated darkish insects (springtails?). They seems to be only in pores and not in flesh of the mushrooms. My question is - can I just blow them out and eat the affected area or is it not safe? They seem to get to mushrooms much faster than I do Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefsWild Posted November 7, 2014 Report Share Posted November 7, 2014 A lot of insects are not only edible, but awfully good. I don't have personal experience with springtails, but acorn grubs are quite a delicacy and none of them get to escape me. Mushroom grubs taste pretty much like mushroom. The main safety issues with eating insects, other than venomous species or ones with toxic secretions, is bacteria and parasites. Know your local micro-ecosystems, and cook bugs thoroughly before consuming as a general rule. Also, much the same rules go for edible bugs as edible mushrooms; get a positive ID before eating and be aware of specific issues in your location, eg, in some areas snails and slugs are at risk of carrying some pretty horrific brain-swelling parasites and absolutely must be cooked before consuming or the results can be fatal. Mostly bugs are made of protein and chitin and taste pretty good especially when fried up crisp. The few toxic ones are usually pretty obviously so, with bright colors or glows (like fireflies) or prickly spines. Venomous is not the same as poisonous. I don't offhand know of any that are both venomous (bad if it bites or stings you) and poisonous.(bad if you bite it), but anything that has a defense involving contact dermatitis generally needs very especial care before it can be considered edible, if it can be at all. In most cases, not worth it, eg, millipedes. The main issue with bugs in and on mushrooms is, to put it indelicately, bug doo-doo. I will happily eat bugs, but I'm not particularly eager to eat poop, so I prefer to clean them up a bit before nibbling. The bugs themselves may be good to eat, once cooked, but their poop can harbor a higher concentration of bacteria and/or parasites than the living organism. Also is not delicious. If in doubt, slice into the mushrooms to check if there's been any buggy deposits that won't wash or brush off easily before cooking them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eat-bolete Posted November 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2014 Thanks ChefsWild. Eating insects reminds me of Bear Grylls and Andrew Zimmern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedric Posted November 10, 2014 Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 I usually peel the pores off the slippery jacks, so no issues... In any case, you can be pretty sure you are eating insect larvae when eating a mushroom, they typically come up through the stem, but when young are too small to even see.... You can do an experiment, eat half the mushrooms and leave the other half at room temperature during a couple of days (sealed so you know no bugs have gotten to them)... when you see what comes out of there, they are the adults of the larvae you ate in the other half... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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