Caterpillar Wine - anyone tried this?

[Wallenstein]

The Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth (Malacosoma disstria) is notorious in parts of North America for chewing through vast acres of foliage as they advance like an army (hence the name "army worms").

There's a tradition of using the caterpillars for making wine - this site describes one chap's attempts to bottle "Army Worm Wine".

Reigstad and his girlfriend began by gathering forest tent caterpillars in the Fish Lake area in mid-June. They waited until the end of the caterpillars' feasting cycle when they were big. Using a whisk broom, they swept masses of worms from tree limbs into clean 6-gallon plastic buckets. When they had about seven pounds of worms in each bucket, Reigstad poured boiling water on them, killing them instantly.

After removing debris that surfaced, Reigstad mashed the army worms up a bit. He added sugar, campden tablets, yeast and other ingredients before covering the bucket and leaving it to ferment.

"It starts bubbling and smelling like rotting fruit," he said, explaining that that's normal.

At the end of a week, Reigstad scooped out the caterpillars with a kitchen strainer and threw them away.

"Hold the strainer up and let it drip out to get the full army worm flavor," he advised anyone planning to replicate his wine.

The wine—which was a green liquid at this point—was strained and funneled into 5-gallon glass jugs called carboys, fitted with air-lock caps. The jugs were left to ferment for three months, during which time they were periodically strained. While most wines need to be siphoned to a clean jug four or five times to clear sediment, Reigstad only had to do it twice with army worm wine.

"This army worm wine cleared real fast, like apple wine," he said. "The clarity surprised me."

I can imagine it's an acquired taste - although I imagine not being told what the key ingredient is would make it easier to swallow.

Are there any UK traditions of using bugs to make wine like this??

 

[JonathanD]

The only grubs worthy of food in this country are stag beetle larvae. There's not that much else out there.

 

[Toddy]

Lot of folks would give you their greenfly though

Me ? I think that's just gross I felt bad enough when I poured boiling water over a broken up head of brocolli and a bright green caterpillar writhed in it's death throes

Ach, each to their own; insect protein is good food. It's my choice not to eat it.

cheers,
Toddy