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The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel
The Observer ^
| Sunday May 11, 2008
| Caroline Davies
Posted on 05/11/2008 8:20:25 AM PDT by Daffynition
t's low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range. In fact, some claim that Sciurus carolinensis - the grey squirrel - is about as ethical a dish as it is possible to serve on a dinner plate.
The grey squirrel, the American cousin of Britain's endangered red variety, is flying off the shelves faster than hunters can shoot them, with game butchers struggling to keep up with demand. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, whose game counter began selling grey squirrel meat two months ago.
At Ridley's Fish and Game shop in Corbridge, Northumberland, the owner David Ridley says he has sold 1,000 - at £3.50 a squirrel - since he tested the market at the beginning of the year. 'I wasn't sure at first, and wondered would people really eat it. Now I take every squirrel I can get my hands on. I've had days when I have managed to get 60 and they've all sold straight away.'
Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. 'It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts,' he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk ...
TOPICS: Food; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: banglist; economy; food; hunting; peopleeattastyanimal; peta; squirrel
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To: #1CTYankee
To: outofsalt
1 dressed squirrel cut into parts.
1 package shake and bake.
Coat pieces then pan fry or deep fat fry.
Trust me. Better than chicken.
62
posted on
05/11/2008 2:15:41 PM PDT
by
dangerdoc
(dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
To: Bringbackthedraft
Armadillo anyone? We have more than we need here. I guess you can boil them like lobster and dip them in butter?You might want to rethink eating armadillo. I've read that they're known to be carriers of the little critters that cause leprosy. I don't know if that would be a problem when you cook them, but I imagine butchering them could be dangerous.
Mark
63
posted on
05/11/2008 2:19:22 PM PDT
by
MarkL
To: marktwain
We have them travel thru the yard from time to time. They say they are about the only natural enemy of the porcupine.
64
posted on
05/11/2008 2:32:05 PM PDT
by
xmission
(Democrats have killed our Soldiers by rewarding the enemy for brutality)
To: Bernard Marx
where I live but boy, we're overrun by possums
Until about four years ago I lived in Baltimore City. It was an old neighborhood near the city line with lots of heavily wooded areas. I often saw foxes, rabbits, raccoons, box turtles, salamanders, woodpeckers, hawks, falcons, chipmunks and lots of squirrels and the occasional possum in my back yard. The wildlife was cool but it was the urban human animals that made me afraid.
One spring day I went out the sliding door of my kitchen and noticed a faint but distinctive foul smell. It sort of smelled like ripe garbage fermenting in a late summer dumpster. I checked my outside trash cans but they were empty and clean. Later that day I noticed the smell in my basement. Thinking that perhaps one of my cats had killed a mouse, squirrel (or horrors) a rat, I did an extensive search but couldnt find anything.
The next day the smell started getting much worse and seemed to be the worst around my kitchen. I checked the refrigerator, the trash can, the sink and couldnt figure out where the smell was coming from.
By the third day, the smell in the kitchen was getting unbearable and nauseating and even the cats were acting strangely and wouldnt come into the kitchen.
Then I remembered seeing a possum on my patio several evenings earlier and about the crawl space under my kitchen. I checked under the small deck and saw the plywood sealing up the crawl space had been chewed on and pushed aside. I took a flashlight and saw at the very far back corner, what appeared to be some sort of furry grey and white animal, still and lifeless and figured where and what the stench was coming from. It was a dead possum.
The crawl space was too small for anyone to go into and the dead possum was too far back to reach and the stench was beyond description.
Not knowing what else to do I called Lester, a real red necked good ole boy who was a professional animal trapper who had come to my house several times over the years to trap the squirrels who took up residence in my attic. I fondly referred to him as Lester the Squirrel Molester. Lester would trap the squirrels in cages and tell me he was going to release them into the woods near where he lived. I think he told me that to make me feel better but I suspected he was making squirrel stew and quite frankly I didnt care what happened to them as long as they were out of my attic.
Anyway, Lester came out the next evening in a cold pouring down rain, took a long pole with a hook on it and extracted what was left of the possum, rotting half liquefied piece by piece. Then he threw lime back into the crawl space as far back as he could to help eradicate the smell. Lester where ever you are, you are still my hero!
I always though possums were nasty looking creatures with equally bad and nasty dispositions but most of all I will never be able to forget that smell as long as I live. Eat a possum? No way! Id be more inclined to eat a squirrel (but only slightly more so).
65
posted on
05/11/2008 2:53:44 PM PDT
by
Caramelgal
(Rely on the spirit and meaning of the teachings, not on the words or superficial interpretations)
To: Lurker; Boiling point
“You can eat squirrel year round.”
Then you’ve obviously never had a problem with botfly larvae in yer area. AKA ‘wooves’ or ‘warbles’. I’ve met old-timers who say they’ll eat an animal that’s infested but there’s no no way I’ll ever do it. Usually seen around here (mid-GA)in late summer and fall, cold weather either kills the parasite or the host critter.
http://entomology.unl.edu/images/botflies/botflies.htm
Also, be careful and wear latex gloves whenever coming in direct contact with any wild animal’s “innards”. Tulerimia isn’t any fun either!
http://www.massone.org/main/bioterrorism/tulerimia.htm
66
posted on
05/11/2008 3:22:09 PM PDT
by
snuffy smiff
(without the right to life.... all other rights are meaningless)
To: Caramelgal
My mother(God rest her soul) grew up during the Depression and used to tell us how the family ate possum. The preferred method-actually, the only way Granddad would eat them was to trap them, pen them up and feed them stuff like sweet corn for several weeks in order to “flush out” the mess it had been eating and to “sweeten” the meat. But according to Mom that only went so far. She refused to ever eat it again after leaving home.
67
posted on
05/11/2008 3:31:38 PM PDT
by
snuffy smiff
(without the right to life.... all other rights are meaningless)
To: Overtaxed
Ping - time to get the Crossman out..
To: HungarianGypsy
I had a taste of squirrel once. It’s meat.
I have plenty to donate for anyone who is interested.
69
posted on
05/11/2008 5:33:10 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: o_zarkman44
Where’s the best place to shoot it for a quick sure kill?
70
posted on
05/11/2008 5:34:09 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: Daffynition
71
posted on
05/11/2008 5:40:59 PM PDT
by
P.O.E.
(Thank God for every morning.)
To: metmom
Wheres the best place to shoot it for a quick sure kill? We always used 22 LR with a scope for a good clean head shot. 4/10 shotguns were good also if you wanted to get a bunch for a big meal. Most of the shot passed right through the rodents.
72
posted on
05/11/2008 5:41:17 PM PDT
by
phil1750
(Love like you've never been hurt;Dance like nobody's watching;PRAY like it's your last prayer)
To: Slings and Arrows
73
posted on
05/11/2008 5:42:20 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: Boiling point
ROTFLMBO!!!!!!!! That is absolutely hysterical!!!!!
74
posted on
05/11/2008 5:43:19 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: SquirrelKing
75
posted on
05/11/2008 5:43:58 PM PDT
by
Jet Jaguar
(Who would the terrorists vote for?)
To: Daffynition
Tree rats, who would want to eat a tree rat.
76
posted on
05/11/2008 5:45:06 PM PDT
by
mware
(mware...killer of threads.)
To: Salamander
My understanding is that small animals usually don’t survive the attack of a rabid animal, so that makes the risk of getting rabies from them low to begin with.
77
posted on
05/11/2008 5:47:06 PM PDT
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: PapaBear3625
We used to have a bunch of squirrels, chipmunks, and a groundhog. Then a fox decided this was his ecological niche Same here but we had a pair of red tailed hawks decide to move into the neighborhood. First it was the squirrels, than the rabbits.
No joke, during hunting season, my brother usually bags the limit on rabbits, last year he was lucky to even see a half dozen.
78
posted on
05/11/2008 5:48:54 PM PDT
by
mware
(mware...killer of threads.)
To: Daffynition
LOL, is that from ACE of CAKES???
79
posted on
05/11/2008 5:52:39 PM PDT
by
mware
(mware...killer of threads.)
To: metmom
80
posted on
05/11/2008 6:42:34 PM PDT
by
Salamander
(And don't forget my Dog; fixed and consequent......)
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