Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2015 22:49:26 GMT -6
The Chinese, My Ancestors have been eating ants for generations, More than 200 years.
It turns out that, compared to $3000 for a pound of snake penises, ants are a real bargain at just $20 a pound.
Let me ask you, who in their right minds would eat ants? ( We Do ) Maybe the happiest emperor in the history of China, Emperor Qianlong? He died just before the 19th century began, at the pretty insane age of 89, and blamed his good looks and eternal youthfulness entirely on his diet of ants. Yes, it's True!
He was inspired by Li Shizhen’s “Compendium of Materia Medica,” which was then already 200 years old, but was still the most popular medical book in China. ( Well Until 1959, then things changes Chairman Mao.) In the book, Doctor Li wrote that black ants Enrich the qi, Beautify The Skin, Delay Ageing and Most Importantly, Restore Kidney Energy.
The emperor’s favorite recipe is still an all-time Chinese classic, like ants fried with pine nuts. We like ours speckled over a Salad or on an egg.
You can also soak your ants in liquor, like a snake. After a week, the ant-guotou cocktail will be drinkable, but the longer you wait, the better. Drink 40ml a day for arthritis, or perhaps as an aphrodisiac. Yes, it works!
Before you go out and buy ants, though, be warned that the bigger they are, the more expensive they’ll be. Plus, as with anything, organic (aka wild) ants cost more than farmed ones. (Do they have ants at the Farmers Market? No. I don't think so.) The most expensive, though, is the legendary mountain-dwelling Wild Black Ant, which costs a whopping $30 a pound. (Okay, that’s a little more than the common black ant, but… well… maybe that’s a lot in the ant world.)
Any Asian Market should sell ants or an asian herbal & medicine store will.
One farmer that Chloe talked to, Zhang Changmeng, had suffered from terrible arthritis his entire life. So he took to drinking snake booze, and was cured within two years. So he claims, at least. Being a snake farmer, albeit a TCM-certified one, I'm convinced. He sells sixty tons of snakes a year, at $60 for 3 pounds, from his “Red Plum Snake Farm” in Shandong.
The T C M book, in the 1500s, a doctor called Li Shizhen decided to investigate wild claims. He’d spent his life researching folk remedies like these, which he’d ultimately combine into a 52-volume medical textbook called “The Compendium of Materia Medica” (本草纲目). The book was so well-respected that it remained the leading medical textbook well into the 20th century, and is used widely in Chinese hospitals today.
It turns out that, compared to $3000 for a pound of snake penises, ants are a real bargain at just $20 a pound.
Let me ask you, who in their right minds would eat ants? ( We Do ) Maybe the happiest emperor in the history of China, Emperor Qianlong? He died just before the 19th century began, at the pretty insane age of 89, and blamed his good looks and eternal youthfulness entirely on his diet of ants. Yes, it's True!
He was inspired by Li Shizhen’s “Compendium of Materia Medica,” which was then already 200 years old, but was still the most popular medical book in China. ( Well Until 1959, then things changes Chairman Mao.) In the book, Doctor Li wrote that black ants Enrich the qi, Beautify The Skin, Delay Ageing and Most Importantly, Restore Kidney Energy.
The emperor’s favorite recipe is still an all-time Chinese classic, like ants fried with pine nuts. We like ours speckled over a Salad or on an egg.
You can also soak your ants in liquor, like a snake. After a week, the ant-guotou cocktail will be drinkable, but the longer you wait, the better. Drink 40ml a day for arthritis, or perhaps as an aphrodisiac. Yes, it works!
Before you go out and buy ants, though, be warned that the bigger they are, the more expensive they’ll be. Plus, as with anything, organic (aka wild) ants cost more than farmed ones. (Do they have ants at the Farmers Market? No. I don't think so.) The most expensive, though, is the legendary mountain-dwelling Wild Black Ant, which costs a whopping $30 a pound. (Okay, that’s a little more than the common black ant, but… well… maybe that’s a lot in the ant world.)
Any Asian Market should sell ants or an asian herbal & medicine store will.
One farmer that Chloe talked to, Zhang Changmeng, had suffered from terrible arthritis his entire life. So he took to drinking snake booze, and was cured within two years. So he claims, at least. Being a snake farmer, albeit a TCM-certified one, I'm convinced. He sells sixty tons of snakes a year, at $60 for 3 pounds, from his “Red Plum Snake Farm” in Shandong.
The T C M book, in the 1500s, a doctor called Li Shizhen decided to investigate wild claims. He’d spent his life researching folk remedies like these, which he’d ultimately combine into a 52-volume medical textbook called “The Compendium of Materia Medica” (本草纲目). The book was so well-respected that it remained the leading medical textbook well into the 20th century, and is used widely in Chinese hospitals today.
