Cleaning

I seem to recall that preparing escargot for consumption involves putting the snails in corn meal for some days to clean out their digestive systems. Perhaps this would work for worms as well.

Offered by Maggie.

The instructions at a New Zealand site were:

Purge your worms. Simply wash and place in moistened cornflour for 48 hours. Wash corn flour off and remove any dead worms.

Cooking and boiling: bring to boil for 15 minutes then change water and boil again.

Baking: freeze worms first. This stops them from slithering off the baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes at 125C (200F). Baked worms may then be ground into "worm flour". (I like this idea!)

I am going to try purging first in water of course and then in crushed cattails (dried to make flour) and if that doesn't work I'll try other native plants. I want to try the baked worms, I think this will be easier for me to start cooking with than working with the soft goey meat. I will keep you posted.

Offered by Mary.

After purging, place a handful of worms in a colander (beware: if you are too slow/timid they will crawl through holes and get stuck in your collinder, which is no fun for either of you, so don't be squeemish, just give them a good, quick bath)! Rinse vigorously with cold water, place on paper towels and pat dry; they are now ready for cooking, freezing, or drying (one cup of earthworms weighs a one-half pound. Freeze in handfuls, in sandwhich size freezer baggies). Rinsed worms are generally boiled (plunged live into roiling water) before inclusion in any recipe. Boil them for as little as ten minutes once and drain; or boil twice/thrice for 5 minutes between water changes. (Sorry to mention it, but worms produce alot of mucus for locomotion). Change the water and boil again if water seems dirty, or slimy (opinions varry on the boil/water change/boil again cycles, depending on your culture, as seen in the recipes below). Personally, at home I cook like a Chef and boil/drain/boil repeatedly; on expedition I cook like Guide and boil twice; when camping I cook like a man and boil once: when on a remote adventure I eat like the natives with a gulp and a smile.

Posted on the Pole Shift ning.

I think the small red wigglers might be hopeless as far as getting the dirt out completely so they might have to be regulated to compost duty or feeding catfish.

Offered by Michael.

Take a blender, blend the worms (red worms too), and the cocktail you are left with (with some water to thin it) may perhaps have the heavier particles at the bottom and the worm particles, the meat, at the top.

Offered by Michel.