Halloween scare dare: Grub-grub anyone?

Sago worms anyone? No? But it’s Halloween season! Where’s your sense of fun and adventure? Don’t strange people do senseless things about this time of year just to spook others?

No takers? Really? Aww…the lot of you must be the non-dare devils -all fans of the fake stuff…you know the brain made of jello, blood made of syrup, fakes of that sort.

Then I guess we’ll just have to fake the sago grubs too now won’t we? With what you ask.  Well, with another fake item of course! Fake sago grubs with ‘fresh fake cordyceps’**!!!

Fresh fake cordyceps (credit: Bite-on-it)

It’s actually a type of edible fungus that is sold as imitations of the actual Cordyceps sinensis* by dishonest traders (usually in China) but we’re honest people so we’re just here to pass them off as worms for the noble reason of Halloween scares.

Now calling this fungi a ‘fake cordycep’ isn’t very accurate because it is actually cordycep, just a different species from the expensive medicinal ones that people will pay a lot for. These fake ones are taken just like another form of vegetables and often cooked into a soup. I’ve tried them and they are pretty nice, I’d say they have a sweet and crunchy taste…

So grab a bunch, give it a boil and you’ve got yourself a nice healthy Halloween scare.

* also known as dong chong cao in Chinese and yatsa gunbu in Tibetan, the cordycep sinensis is a Chinese medicinal herb that belongs to the fungus family. It is very expensive and much sought after. It looks like worm because it is partially worm – the fungus inhabits the body of a moth larva from the Himalayas.

** a tropical species of cultivated”cordyceps” that contains fungus only, different from the actual cordycep sinensis, these are of no medicinal value. Can be found cultivated in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.