Broccoli a la caterpillar...

[fruit&vegvirgin]

help! have had some beautiful brocc, but it is now vile - cut it, soak it in salty water for half an hour, which Sarah Raven says gets rid of caterpillars. however, then you cook it, and they all float out... at least they're dead, but we REALLY dont want to eat it now. anyone got any advice to really get rid of them so we can eat what's left???

[Lesley Jay]

The first year I grew cauliflower the caterpillars put me right off! I tried using a thin bladed sharp knife to force them out before cooking but ever since I have always netted over the cauliflowers and cabbages. This works. I have just read (and this really put me off) that the caterpillars leave small brown or dark green granular deposits as they feed. Yuk!

[mandyballantyne]

broccoli a la caterpillar

I don't think I will be eating brocoli tonight, the thought of boiled caterpillers is not nice!

Good luck with getting them out.

[fruit&vegvirgin]

cheers lesley! I know, I should have put fleece over them. will do next year!

[Lesley Jay]

No I don't use fleece - fine netting.

[Lozzie]

Catterpillar broccoli? Doesn't sound very nice. Still, the extra protein is a bonus... just kidding!
Make sure you drape your nets carefully. Butterflies are crafty when it comes to laying eggs. Alternatively (dunno if it works), try planting plants that are attractive to butterflies far from your broccoli. Hopefully, they'll spend more time there than on your broccoli. As a bonus, it might attract bees to your garden!

[fruit&vegvirgin]

bees, butterflies, etc etc - we do well with those, and I have lots of friendly plants for them. plus the masses of nettles in the field - but they still pick my brocc!
is there any way I can save what's left, and make it edible, or should I just compost the lot?

[Lozzie]

Hmmm... well the only thing I can think of is picking off the catterpillars by hand and destroying them. Still, it can still be time consuming and even that's no guarantee that your food will be bug free.

Speaking of which, I've had a few bugs in my food. Once, I decided to steam some frozen corn on the cob for dinner. At first, it looked just like an ordinary corn cob. However, when it was done, I noticed a grub sticking out of one end! I'm not sure how it got there. My guess is that the grub had burrowed into the cob, got frozen, was reawakened by the heat from the steam, came out of it's hole and got cooked by the steam. But how did it survive being frozen?

[Alice]

What a shame fruit & veg virgin. I'm sure it's really off puting. Maybe we have just all become too fussy and squeamish. When I was a child it was the children's job to bump the cabbages etc off a wall to knock out the worst of the slugs and catterpillars then the veg were soaked in salted water to get rid of the rest. What happened when they were put in the pot I don't know. Maybe the grubs all floated out like yours ! We ate it anyway. We couldn't afford not to.
Things like brambles were the same. We feasted on them straight off the bush but if you put them in a poly box all those little white wormy things come crawling out of them. (I can't eat them now)
I don't know of anyone who came to any harm from eating grubs and worms in the food. I think we're all to fussy ( or too well off) but I'm with you on the aversion.
Sorry, I don't think there is a cure for your problem, except skim them off and forget about them. Enjoy !!!!

[Slug]

Oh this is all just too disgusting to think about!!! I've been growing the sprouting broccoli this year and although it has been absolutely INFESTED with caterpillars because it's the sprouting broccoli, I just take small snippets off here and there and there are not many places for them to hide.

I had a horrible shock the other day when I went out to get some salad from the garden. I got a mixture of leaves, including some baby spinach, then washed them. I got a clean tea towel out to dry the salad leaves and was just about to put them in my lunch box, when I noticed one of my spinach leaves looked a bit 'odd'. It was absolutely smothered in flat white eggs.... I was soooooooooo disgusted to think I nearly didn't spot it and could have easily munched them for my lunch - eughhhh!

And to think only that morning I'd been marvelling at how nothing was attracted to my spinach and how it was relatively pest free - little did I know....

[Alice]

Disgusting to think you could have been eating all those eggy things in your sandwich - but what harm would it do you. Or you can spray everything with insecticide- and what harm does that do. We all buy the stuff in the supermarket and live to tell the tale. Just playing devil's advocate here. I think we all have to find a middle way.

[Slug]

I agree Alice... It's disgusting to think I could have eaten lots of little eggy things, but I prefer eggy things to pesticides (only.... make sure I don't know I've eaten eggy things and I'll be OK!!)

It's all extra protein I suppose.... The other day I went for a run and ended up swallowing a large fly - probably much worse than eating a few eggy things - I know where flies like to hang out...

[Lozzie]

I guess you're right Alice. Even though eating most insects is pretty much harmless, most people in this country are kinda fussy about bugs. In a lot of countries, bugs are a delicacy. For example, Wicchety grubs are often eaten in Australia (tastes like peanuts, so I've heared). Honeypot Ants are also eaten like sweets in some parts of the world. Doesn't sound very appetizing to me, but as they say, "Don't knock it until you've tried it".

Still, swallowing flies still sounds nasty. Imagine all the diseases they could carry!

[sewer rat]

My own fault really I suppose for not covering them but came home tonight and went out to pick some peas and water my veg, and noticed that my PSB has been decimated - to the extent and the speed at which sawfly work but it was just common or garden caterpillars - hundreds of 'em - so PSB and said caterpillars are now nestling in the bottom of a brown council bin awaiting collection on Wednesday

[fruit&vegvirgin]

do you reckon its best not to compost it then rat? coz I've chucked mine straight in the compost bin.