Comments on: Raccoon Heart @ Dec Rewild Camp

By: David Creamer

David Creamer — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:38:28 +0000

I’m on the Rewild.info site; however, I stumbled on this page looking for a site on the effects of fermentation on the toxicity of urban meats. There are some very healthy rats that come and eat our oranges and pomegranates here in Davis. It wouldn’t take much to trap a few. I know that it is thought that fermentation destroys anti-nutrients and things like that. It seems to me that fermentation breathes life into most anything. I am debating getting a couple of these rats and burying them for a month or so to ferment them ala Alaskan Stinky Head (which I’m wanting to try as well). I don’t know how we’re going to come to any conclusions on this sort of thing. I’m not sure that science will be of much use. Science will say at times that eating sprouts is bad and they sure feel good to me.. Also, each rat or raccoon would be different. In the end it may be that we need to get better at trusting ourselves and moving beyond fear of our environment and into the Buddhist zone of trusting what will be. This of course requires less attachment to all things. Hard to explain that one quickly, but my “Be here now” experimentation a few years back brought me to the door of it.. Death is okay and that sort of thing. I found that the stress relief from living in that sort of zone would far outweigh the effects of something I would have eaten.. At the same time, I felt like I was living in a zone where I could sense the proper path at any moment and moved and did without questioning. Again, that required going to a state where death was acceptable as a possible path. There was no fear of anything at all… I’m not living like that now. I wonder if it’s okay to eat these rats or not?

By: KC Lowlife

KC Lowlife — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:23:29 +0000

Cooking it in a stew won’t remove chemicals that have built up in the cells from all the crap it’s been eating. It would kill all the bacteria but may not do much for poisons that the raccoon has become semi-immune to.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t eat it. Just saying cooking time doesn’t have much bearing on toxicity.

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:58:31 +0000

Hi Scout,

Have been viewing your beautiful raccoon heart for weeks now, and thinking …

most likely you wanted to eat it raw, and did find a site, one most likely you have already come across.

I must admit, James and Craig have both given you pretty good suggestions.

Me? I like to eat meat med rare. No road kills yet, but one never knows….

Please let us know, what recipe you have decided upon, and the end, no pun intended, results that you experienced.

Hugs, Christine

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:07:54 +0000

If there’s a question about the safety, I’d suggest a long, slow simmer in a stew. It should kill anything that would hurt you. It would also stretch the meat out over a few meals. You might also consider braising it.

If there’s a question of how it will taste, a nice marinade or brine can go a long way. Do it in something acidic, like wine or vinegar, to tenderize the meat. Leach out the bad and bring in the good.

Unless you know it’s fresh (you saw it die) roadkill should generally be cooked well done.

By: james

james — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:28:04 +0000

Confiet and age it.

slow cook it in turkey fat or olivie oil. and then put it in the firdge and age it with salt for a month. then reheat. soooooooo good!

By: {Possum

{Possum — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:07:12 +0000

I started eating roadkill by eating a possum collected from SE Portland…hey, we get toxins in every breath of air and every drink of water these days, so a little city roadkill is like a few drags on a cigarette or a drink out of the Columbia river right?

Go for it! (Maybe I’m just a gross person who will die of cancer in a few years…who knows…)

Which reminds me, I’ve got a Canadian goose in my freezer I need to cook…any brillant recipes out there?