This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “INTERchange,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Franklin.
Culinary no-no #53
By Kevin Fischer
Sunday, May 4 2008, 05:45 PM
THE FOLLOWING IS THE 2008 CINCO DE MAYO EDITION OF CULINARY NO-NO
When I moved to Franklin in the early 90’s, I’m pretty sure I had packed away a possession I kept as a conversation piece.
I received it as a gift from the older sister of an old girlfriend who purchased it in Mexico.
It appeared to be a bottle of tequila with a worm at the bottom.
In reality it was a bottle of mezcal, a liquor similar to tequila. Mexican law prohibits adding insects or larvae to tequila. But “worms” are ok in mezcal.
I’ve never opened that bottle, and I’m not sure where it is today, but I know there was something floating around in there. According to tequilasource.com, it’s not a worm, it’s a butterfly caterpillar. Tied around the bottle was a small bag of worm salt and chile powder.
Folklore tells us the worm is supposed to be eaten when the bottle is ultimately emptied. Swallowing the worm can cause hallucinations. It’s also been suggested that the mescal-marinated worm is an aphrodisiac.
All of that stuff is legend………urban legend. The worm in the bottle was a marketing ploy developed by manufacturers in the 1940’s.
From tequilasource.com:
There are two types of worms in mezcal: the red, gusano rojo—considered superior because it lives in the root and heart of the maguey—and the less-prized white or gold gusano de oro, which lives on the leaves. The red gusano turns pale in the mezcal, the gold turns ashen-gray. Both larvae are commonly eaten as food and are sold in Zapotec markets.
Yes, you’re supposed to eat the worm in mezcal. Don’t worry: it’s quite well pickled and free of pesticides (they’re often raised just for use in mezcal, cooked and pickled in alcohol for a year). But dispel any idea it has any magical or psychotropic properties, that it’s an aphrodisiac or the key to an "unseen world." It’s merely protein and alcohol—but it’s very rich in imagery.
Aside from its consumption with mezcal, the maguey worm is considered a delicacy in Mexico and can be found on some restaurant menus.
The famous "worm" that is found in some bottles of Mezcal (con gusano -- "with worm") is actually the larva of one of two moths that live on the agave plant. The reason for adding the worm to the bottle of Mezcal is obscure. But one story, that at least has the appeal of logic to back it up, is that the worm serves as proof of high proof, which is to say that if the worm remains intact in the bottle, the percentage of alcohol in the spirit is high enough to preserve the pickled worm.
Ok, you’re supposed to eat the worm or caterpillar or larvae.
But besides being icky, isn’t it unhealthy?
No, it’s not.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2005 reported on the Mexican government’s plan to ban the “worm” in mezcal:
The effort to remove the worm came amid concerns of the worm’s high fat content.
If you make it to the bottom of a bottle of mezcal, a fatty worm is the least of your problems. But officials say they were worried that fat globules alter the chemical composition of mezcal, made from the blue agave cactus, the same raw material used to make tequila.
After learning of the anti-worm legislation, mezcal producers swung into action, lobbying and producing studies that show that the worm poses no health risks. The government reversed course, saving not just the worm, but in all likelihood the mezcal industry.
Some websites claim the “worm” contains protein.
A nice, fat, juicy worm with a margarita?
Pass the Doritos.
To read previous Culinary no-no’s, please click CULINARY NO-NO under my TAGS section.
