While going back to India in October 2006, my good friend Rambabu mentioned that he bought a pack of Fig Newtons as he liked them. I too eat them once in a while. Now, Encarta says that the little bit of crunch in Fig Newtons could be due to the bugs that inadvertently get into the fig paste!
TheOn going through the FDA website, I noticed that I too probably have been eating all kinds of stuff that rhymes with "trap" unknowingly! Oh well, we are nothing but the nature's recyclers, like rest of the carbon-based life forms. Bon Appetit!The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows for fig paste to have up to 13 insect heads per 100 grams (see table in the FDA link). Because the fig bears its flowers inside the fruit and relies upon wasps to crawl inside to pollinate them, many wasps end up harvested along with the figs. Even with rigorous cleaning and sorting of the figs, it would be nearly impossible to remove every single wasp from inside the figs. So, the crunch is mostly from the fig's seeds, but there may be a wasp head or two in the paste as well.
Related quote:
Eat s%&#, 1,000 billion flies can't be wrong! - Source Unknown
2 comments:
That was cool raa. Gops. Do u remember in our quarters, during monsoon, we used under our street lamps and there were these insects, which were clld fireflies or the onoes which used to surround the lamps. They are said to be one of the tastiest insects which are used as popcorn in China and the taiwanareas, sold during the movie breaks, or in parks. So, the Americans are I say a bit late in this aspect.
Actually, one of the guys who I used work with (Vince Rorick) is a big fan of fried crickets. He got hooked on them in Thailand. He says that he likes any fried insects, but he prefers crickets!
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