The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-05-15
G%rasshopper Curry.

SAA ~ W IN AtA&a1lo " bC
aleezed at. and croquettes of the same ma
terial are exquisite. Truth to tell, the only
occasion on which i have ever eaten hop
Der croQuettes was at the table of the late
:. V. Riley, at that time entomolog;st in
.hief of the government, who was an en-
husiastic advocate of insects as food. He
lid not mention what they were, and no
>ody would have guessed the secret If It
lad not been for all accidental hind leg
which was found in one OF the crouuettes.
It was what might be termed the joke in
ltructive-though l am not sure that ev-
lrybody present relished 1t.
"Plain roast grasshoppers are very good
indeed, though OH the whole / rather pre-
Ter them fried in butter. There is a de-
sided suggestion of the crawlsh about
them-if one happens to be familiar with
the latter d%elicacy. l have heard that in
1outll Africa the natives build fires in
Ldvance OF flying swarme OF these In
tects. thus causing them to fall to the
ground by millions: whereupon they pound
hem between stones and mix the flour
hus obtained with water to compose a
Kind Of soup.
1.-The most interesting experiment with
s~rasshoppers up to date, however, so far
- known. has been made by Prof. Will
lam X. kedZie of the Kansas agricultural
sollege, who obtained from a bushel of
ue insects by pressure about four quarts
pf liquids. which he subjected to analysis.
By distillatton he derived from 1t a pure
md colorless solution of formic acid
which, by the way, IL a valuable CONNER
hal product, worth 60 cents an ounce. 1t
hsed to be obtained exclusively from red
lnts. Not only is 1t useful for medicinal
purposes, but also, IN the laboratory, for
reducing the salts OF gold. silver and
platinum. If ~grasshoppers are SO rich in
It. they might be turned to valuable &C
lount in this way.
Not q New Fond.
1.-THE use Of grasshoppers as food is no
new thing. No less an authority than
Moses said to the Israelites of old: These
re may eat, the locust. the beetle and the
~Erasshopper.' Nevertheless, the Jews of
Morocco today regard the male grasshop-
per as u%nclean, and eat only the females
putting them up as a sort OF preserves in
pots,) because these have on their bodies
certain markings resembling Hebrew
characters, which are supposed to make
hem lawful food.
But 1t would be a great mistake to
suppose that grasshoppers are the only
edible insects. Experiments made by the
STAFF of the bureau Of insects have shown
that wasp grubs fried in the comb are ex-
eellent. When once this fact comes to be
realized our farmers will be less disposed
to regard wasp nests as things to be reck-
Iessly destroyed by burning. 1t will be
deemed more advantageous to drive out
the insects and utilize the combs as a
table delicacy. After all. 1t should be
realized that wasp grubs are fed upon the
naintiest juices OF fruits and flowers. and
1t is unreasonable to entertain a prejudice
against them as an article of diet.
mo a few Of the night-flying moths and
butterflies, which gather the nectar of
flowers, are very good to eat. OF course
one must know how to prepare them for
the table. In this country we have several