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Silkworm
Appears in
Published 2014
As is well known, the silkworm, Bombyx mori, is reared for the production of silk and its diet consists solely of mulberry leaves. It is less well known that the pupae (or cocoons) of the silkworm are edible and have a composition similar to that of shrimps.
The pupae are prepared for the unreeling of the silk thread by being placed in boiling water in what are known as reeling basins. The silk thread is then reeled out of them. The pupae are at this stage already cooked and edible after their boiling, but are usually further cooked by frying in fat and are then salted or seasoned with lemon leaves; or made into a soup; or pounded and then cooked with green leaves. Sometimes the cooked pupae are dried in the sun and then preserved.