Get rich farming frogs, 1934
Here's an exciting idea from the May, 1934 edition of Modern Mechanix: raise frogs in your backyard for fun and profit!
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No frog farmer need search for a market, his crop is virtually all sold before it is raised. I could sell one hundred times my present production in a single week, and am expanding my ponds so, eventually, I expect to have 1000 acres utilized solely for giant bullfrog culture. I sell tadpoles at five to ten cents each by the hundred. They are used to stock farms and for aquarium purposes.Frog Meat Is Delicious
Bullfrogs, that cost me less than one cent per year to feed, wholesale at $3.00 per dozen in large quantities. Smaller frogs, of which only the legs are used, sell for as high as seventy cents per pound. Each frog gives a pound of delicious white meat that has a taste similar to a tender, juicy squab. The whole frog is used, the front quarter being just as delicious as the legs.
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Anyone else reminded of Cannery Row?
Tastes like chicken.
They sell frog legs fried, by the bucket, and apparently they taste like rubbery chicken legs - or, so I've been told by braver folks.
I sort of almost think this is a lie based on the tall tale contest in The Virginian. But, hey, I have been to a seahorse farm, so I'm sure someone has pulled off a frog farm at some point in time.
There's a relief, it tastes similar to something familiar, like a tender and juicy one pigeon!
I don't get the part about 1lb/frog, including "the front quarter". Do I just bake a whole frog and chow down?
Frog legs are a delicacy in several Asian countries-- I enjoy them, myself, but I don't think they're worth the price you have to pay for them. Chicken is a cheaper alternative.
Here's a link to the only frog farm in the country I live in, Singapore:
http://www.jurongfrogfarm.com.sg/
I was actually plenty surprised myself, stumbling upon this discovery. We don't get to much farming in Singapore, much less of something as unusual as frogs.
According to the FAO, American Bullfrogs are currently farmed in various S. American and Asian countries (the link also gives information on some of the rearing methods used).
American Bullfrogs have become a pest in some coutries they've been introduced to, partly due to competing with (and eating!) native species, partly due to carrying the chytrid fungus.
A colony here in the UK was recently exterminated by erecting a frog-proof fence round it, draining all the ponds in the area, and killing the frogs (about 7000 of them) with shotguns.
Would you like to live next door to one of these frog farms? Ribbit... times a thousand. The noise, the smell, the mosquitoes. Give me a next door backyard of howling, barking, pit bulls any day.
I think Cory should usher in a new concept category, similar to "steam punk" but preceding it: "swamp punk".
I live in Paris and the French do eat frogs. It's not common in Paris restaurants but you can buy them frozen. Most of the frog legs come from Asian bullfrogs - imported from Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, and most recently Indonesia. Indonesia has become the largest supplier of frog legs to Europe. The problem is the Indonesian bullfrog population has fallen drastically as a result.
In satisfying the French, Belgian and Italian appetite for frogs, Indonesia runs the risk of driving some of its frogs to extinction, impacting on the environment - frogs play a vital role in eradicating insect pests in rice paddies. The decline in frogs has resulted in an increase in the use of pesticides leading to an increase in pollution. I'm guessing there' ll soon be a fervent "Save Our Frogs" campaign.
Sounds like the Indonesian supply comes from wild rather than farmed frogs. Since the frogs can be frozen almost anywhere and then shipped, it might make a good business for people in areas where the land is otherwise not suitable for farming (i.e., too swampy).
No thanks, I'll stick to farming rats and cats, because after all, I "get the cats skins for nothing."
(An old Jamaica co-worker used to chide me for eating frogs, what he called "spring chicken." He called it a "dirty animal", and if I asked him what meat he preferred he said "goat." Yeah, like goats are clean.)
Frogs are pretty clean and tasty, that is if they are not living in open sewers.
apparently there are only two weeks of the year in France where it is authorised to hunt for wild frogs. the rest are imported.
Am I the only one having flashbacks to tiny frogs on crutches?
Perhaps I've watched the Muppet Movie a few too many times...