porcupinesDear Forrest,
In Scrapbook 49 ( Sweet Fragrances)  you talked about many different spices.  In your book, The Thrill of the Chase, you mention the taste of porcupine.  I was wondering…..which spice do you think would be best used on porcupine so it doesn’t taste so much like kerosene.  ~ j

Jenny,
No spice can soften that taste. Forest wisdom during the mountain man era was don’t kill the porcupine if you have anything else to eat. Save him for when you’re starving. The poor animal, whose face has no flattering angles, walks with a slow waddle, which makes him easy to catch.

In the Rocky Mountains Porky spends a lot of time eating most parts of a pine tree, including needles, cones, and bark. His meat tastes like what he eats. I ate one once, and if I had to choose between doing it again, and collapsing of malnourishment, I’d have to think about it for a while. f

33 Comments

    2. Jenny – And it looks like pirateofgold is reading this post on your blog,…because now he is headed to New Mexico, too:

      http://dalneitzel.com/2014/11/08/architecture-of-the-poem/#comment-76503

      I am sure it was also because of the relationship between porcupines and pinion nuts:

      http://www.desertusa.com/flora/pinyon-pine.html

      Other wildlife that compete for this nutritious food source are black bears, mule deer, woodrats, pinyon mice, ground squirrels, chipmunks, and porcupines, although the latter prefers the inner bark of the pinyon tree over the pinyon nuts.

      E*

      1. Jenny – But based on this,…from that same link,…you may want to send pirateofgold to this forest North of Santa Fe,…in Colorado,…instead (since I still can’t post at Dal’s):

        A testament to the growing power of the pinyon can be found in an isolated grove in Owl Creek Canyon near Ft. Collins, Colorado. The nearest tree is miles away; these pines owe their existence to a cache of nuts left by Native Americans some 400 years ago.

        Owl Creek Canyon,…a “wise” blaze for sure ! 🙂

        E*

        2. spallies – Another interesting porcupine fact,…that is perhaps related to that:

          The porcupine is the only native North American mammal with antibiotics in its skin. Those antibiotics prevent infection when a porcupine falls out of a tree and is stuck with its own quills upon hitting the ground. Porcupines fall out of trees fairly often because they are highly tempted by the tender buds and twigs at the ends of the branches.

          E*

  7. .
    I’m thing about passing on breakfast this morning. On my traffic-weary commutes to work, I often listen to book-on-CD, and am currently listening to “The Bone Season” (Samanatha Shannon) – a group of captured humans has learned to eat whatever they must, to survive. The tastes are sometimes described.

    “In the Rocky Mountains Porky” looks like it contains some codes, caps PRIM being one of them.

    astree

  8. Porcupines Oh My! My dog, Aspen had a unfortunate lunch time meeting with a porcupine once. I say “once” because he is smart. With three quills in his face it could have been worse. We heard that if you cut the tips off before pulling out the quills – it lets the air out and they come out easier. I don’t think anything about it was easy.

    Before we chased that critter out of our forest, with air guns and over to our neighbors (we were in a water war with them) – he had already eaten the tops off of three of our pine trees – killing them. Destructive little guys they are – maybe that’s why they taste so rotten.

    Maybe,somewhere along the path to the treasure there will be more dead “pine” trees – just a guess.

    inthechaseto

  9. Watching porcupine quills be removed from my dog Thor’s nose was curiosity enough for us both. If a reference to the Pogo comic strip on human nature – Wickipedia info: Pogo combined both sophisticated wit and slapstick physical comedy in a heady mix of allegory, Irish poetry, literary whimsy, puns and wordplay, lushly detailed artwork and broad burlesque humor. Sounds like a Forrest fit or fitting for Forrest.

    lia

  12. How do porcupines make love? Very carefully! Seriously? Eat one of those when so many other, better tasting critters are so easy to catch? Once I taught my sons how to grapple for catfish in the Lower Pecos River near Carlsbad Caverns NM, soon they were breaking the law grappling for trout where cold waters begin, that was an unintended consequence of trying to teach your kids survival skills. While in the Amphibious Navy during Vietnam, nothing was beyond eating if you had to survive so maybe Forrest survival training started before the Air Force? What have you eaten in a pinch to survive? Rattlesnake taste like Chick fil A.

    Tom T

    Tom Terrific

    1. The worst I ever had was living on half a jar of peanut butter and tap water for a couple of weeks.
      In my area they have those hunter’s feeds (there’s a name for it but I can’t think of it right now) where you can eat all sorts of things, and I have. Raccoon, opossum, etc.
      And I was a salesman in my younger days and called on this one tavern in a “hole in the wall” area where the old couple that owned it seemed to really take a shine to me. They were such a friendly sort that people filled their place every evening. They used to give me “mystery meat” almost every week when I called on them. There was some unusual stuff in that fare. It’s funny how people give more appealing names to things, like “mountain oysters”.

      Buckeye Bob

      1. Hello Buckeye Bob. The mountain oysters are considered a delicacy. There’s a place in Colorado that serves them. It’s a ritzy place in Morrison, I think. Can’t think of the name of the place right now, but they also have other specialty/wild fares there, too. Just remembered the place! It’s called “The Fort” restaurant. You can go online and check for yourself. 🙂

        pdenver

        1. Thanks, pdenver.
          http://thefort.com/
          I bookmarked it and hope to get there some day.
          I had buffalo burgers at the Ohio State Fair once. Quite the tasty thing, and healthier than beef I hear.
          That’s an impressive menu. That Game Plate looks interesting for sure.
          It’s times like this I wish I could afford to travel to a city and spend a month there to really delve into things like this. 😀

          Buckeye Bob

          1. Hello Buckeye Bob. The family likes to go to Yellowstone for the buffalo burgers. My family are hunters and know wild game is very lean and quite healthier than regular beef. It would be nice to travel to different states and see what their cuisine is all about. 🙂

            pdenver

        2. There’s a not o ritzy one in Severance Colorado, Bruce’s Bar and Grill. I haven’t been there for a few years but on Friday and Saturday night you can do a little boot scootin boggie with your dinner. A real redneck kinda place.

          JL

  13. PS I just read about ff not being as active in the “Thrill” and knowing how much he loves the “Chase” I doubt he will be able to keep away from the it, he is only going on a long needed sabbatical, since it has been 6 long years since he stashed Indulgence, somewhere near the place where cold water live and the wild bees swarm.

    Tom Terrific, as in enthusiastic about the TTOC

    Tom Terrific

    1. Hello 23kachinas. I think I’ve read you’re from New Mexico. Do they serve wild game with chiles there? My family hunts all sorts of wild game, and they bring home what they get and I cook it up and serve it to them and store the rest in the freezer. I’ve tried a couple things, but I’m not fond of it. My husband and sons went to one of our favorite lakes and caught some fish. Have to cook them up. Usually I add some margarine, lemon slices and seasonings. Never heard of honey on it, but I may have to try it for the family. These guys talking about mountain oysters reminded me when I was in my teens and a friend of the family told us what they were. I couldn’t believe it! I knew of a place that served them, and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember the name. I had to call my husband to ask and he told me. I give my husband the credit for remembering. I certainly couldn’t. I don’t know if it’s just a Colorado delicacy or not. I only know they serve them here. I know they won’t be found on my plate. That’s for darn sure.

      pdenver

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.