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Giant Frog Farms of the 1930s
- zafka 9y agoGood timing on this article. After catching 6 bufo toads that were eating my bees, I considered the wisdom of breeding toads.........
- dddddaviddddd 9y agoInteresting that raising live feed for the frogs would be one of the major bottlenecks (despite good efficiency of 3 masses of food to produce one mass of frogs).
- Someone 9y agoI don’t think 3 is that good for creatures that size. Commercially bred chicken are at 1.6, and for eggs it’s about 2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio#Poultry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio#Poultry) If one slaughters pigs young enough, one can get under 3, too.
- theyregreat 9y agoServed with a side of mealworms, or crickets, if you prefer. Interestingly, allrecipes lives up to the name on its tin: http://allrecipes.com/search/results/?ingIncl=frog&sort=re http://allrecipes.com/search/results/?ingIncl=frog&sort=re
- _eht 9y agoWhat is the reference to mealworms and crickets?
- KGIII 9y agoOh, Louisiana. That is where I met a crazy swamp beast that scared the hell out of me. It turns out, it was a Nutria and similar to this frog deal. They were supposed to be a profitable critter to raise but they aren't. No, the one I met crawled out of a swamp, covered in slime, and ate a rotten fish - while staring me down. It did not look even remotely tasty or like I might want to wear its fur. I can't imagine what people were thinking, kind of like these frogs. Frogs are handy for catching food, however. I am not sure if even gators eat the nutria. They are now an invasive pest species. They look worse when they are covered in swamp slime.
- ivanhoe 9y agoActually nutria fur is very nice to touch and a good quality since it's water resistant (if we set aside the moral side of wearing furs). Also they're cute little critters (when you see them outside of the swamp, I guess), but yes, they're horribly invasive pest, and here in Europe create a lot of problems because they dig holes in river banks and dams.
- KGIII 9y agoYeah, they look like nice friendly things you want to cuddle and pet - unless your first encounter with them is in a swamp while you're in a very inebriated state. (Meaning my state, not the State of Louisiana, though they are often pretty inebriated.)
- gweinberg 9y agoMaybe it was just an idea ahead of its time. It sounds like people really did consider the frogs to be delicious, but raising them was a lot of trouble. Modern techniques out to be able to automate a lot of the labor.
- Fezzik 9y agoI wish people would hunt bullfrogs up here in the Pacific Northwest - they are a terrible bane to our riparian ecosystems as they eat everything that lives in a wetland (except the larger mammals). And, as the article mentions, their appetites are almost insatiable.
- mythrwy 9y agoFrogs are as unpleasant to eat as you might imagine (IMOP). They don't taste like chicken.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y agoThe ones I've had do. Disappointingly so.
- madengr 9y agoI think they do. Went frog gigging a few times as a kid.
- jakeogh 9y agoI have eaten farmed bullfrog a bunch of times and it's definitely like chicken in a good way. The bones are thin, and there's not much meat, but 10 of them will fill you up.
- ivanhoe 9y agoI hope you ate only frog's legs? Eating a whole frog is probably not a nice experience :), but legs are IMHO quite tasty and indeed have a texture similar to the chicken breasts...
- DonHopkins 9y agoNext you're going to tell me that sea monkeys don't taste like lobster. Damn, so much for my next get-rich-quick scheme.
- rdtsc 9y agoFunny enough they taste like they should - chicken but with a fishy flavor mixed in. It makes sense in a silly way since it's an amphibian.
- pcmaffey 9y agoNon sequitur opportunity to recommend one of my favorite movies of all time: Delicatessen. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101700/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101700/ If you've seen the movie, you'll get why I'm posting this.