Leeches!!! Ick!

[Argie's Wife]

Bring a salt shaker with you - they'll let go if you salt them and it's not supposed to itch as badly. (I don't know if this is true about the itching - it's been a long time since I've had one on me...) But they are very ick! - I'd scream like a little girl if I found one on me.

It's one of those things - like duck itch - that come with swimming in a lake.

(Although if anyone remembers watching the movie "Stand By Me", I'll never look at leaches the same again!)

[ApS]

In 53 years, I've found only one leech: it was less than ¾-inch long and skinny—skinnier than a caterpillar. Apparently, it hadn't attached yet, and nothing remained behind to indicate an attachment.

At ¾-inch long, is this the same leech species everyone else is talking about?

[Kamper]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

Bring a salt shaker with you - they'll let go if you salt them ..

This is the recomended method, although some folks like to tap them with a lit cigarette. Rubbing alchahol works too, as would hard liquor (externally applied! ).

"Pulling" them off is not recomended because mouth parts could be left behind. These remnants could result in serious infection. If the foreign material is not expelled your body will encyst it. Small cysts like this (lumps) are rarely a problem but may be confused later for more serious conditions.

After the leech releases clean the site with soap and/or first aid wash. Hand sanitizer should be safe too but it's going to sting... Squishing the leech for personal satisfaction is optional.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Kamper

This is the recomended method, although some folks like to tap them with a lit cigarette. Rubbing alchahol works too, as would hard liquor (externally applied! ).

"Pulling" them off is not recomended because mouth parts could be left behind. These remnants could result in serious infection. If the foreign material is not expelled your body will encyst it. Small cysts like this (lumps) are rarely a problem but may be confused later for more serious conditions.

After the leech releases clean the site with soap and/or first aid wash. Hand sanitizer should be safe too but it's going to sting... Squishing the leech for personal satisfaction is optional.

Any tips on how the leach should be prepared and cooked after it's been salted ? I hear them are mighty good eating ! Leeches, the other white meat ...


ps - What's the bag limit on leeches ?

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac

Any tips on how the leach should be prepared and cooked after it's been salted ? I hear them are mighty good eating ! Leeches, the other white meat ...


ps - What's the bag limit on leeches ?

They're usually called "clam strips", right?

[SAMIAM]

I don't recommend salt....we use Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic

[SIKSUKR]

Wouldn't using pepper work better?The leach would sneeze itself off your body.Theeeeennn marinate in your choice of marinade overnight and broil lightly.

[Pineedles]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

They're usually called "clam strips", right?

So that's why my SEAWATCH frozen clam strips tasted so bad. ICK!

[Kamper]

Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac

Any tips on how the leach should be prepared and cooked after it's been salted ? ...

Also known as White Mountain Escargot, can be sauted in white wine, garlic and butter. Best consumed after copius amounts of alchaholic beverages. Then wash it down with additional copius amounts of alchaholic beverages.

No bag limits.

[trfour]

Use a diesel fired salamander. Gets them suckers off pronto!

[braunbayboater]

I haven't seen any leaches but several times I have had multiple bites on me after walking in a silty area near our beach. Does anyone know what is biting me and how to get rid of the bugs? The bites are red like measles and itch even worse about 2 days after exposure.

[hoopdawg]

Leeches are amazingly tough little critters. They're pretty much nothing but elastic connective tissue with a gut tube running down the middle. Dissecting them is a real pain - it's like trying to cut through the rubber bands inside a golf ball. This is what allows them to stretch and distend so obscenely as they fill full of blood.

So cooking them would probably make this worse.

I would think that a marinade would be the best choice - cut them into small bite-size portions and bathe them overnight in some red wine, peppers and seasoning salt - maybe some jerk seasonings too. Bread them and sear them lightly, and serve them hot. They'll probably taste like pencil erasers, but have enough beer with them and they'll be fine.

or try this way >>>>>>



Ingredients

5-15 leeches (live ones)

Blood (From a human, preferably a live one)

Cooking

Boil in water. Use a gas stove from the most authentic results.

Portion Size

Leeches make a perfect hors d’oeuvre, a nice start to an evening of fine dining with any number of friends.

Preparation

1. Go to the Lake . Get your mitts on some leeches. Remember, it’s a wild animal, so hunting the beast is no task for inexperienced outdoorsman.

2. Get some blood. There are many ways to do this, but the best flavor comes from a fellow human being. But don’t settle for just anybody. A chain-smoking person one drunken step away from burnout, personal bankruptcy or any other of life’s little hardships usually owns a liver that gives the blood rushing through it a distinguished zest that won’t dissolve in the process of making the dish.

3. Let the leeches feast on the blood of the person of your choice, until the busy little hermaphrodites have eaten themselves into immobile obesity.

4. Boil the water, but keep an eye on the temperature. Remember, you are not meant to kill the natural aromas of the blood circulating inside the leech with the heat turned on too high.

5. When the liquid turns clear and the surface of the leech turns into scab-like shell, the dish is ready.

6. Serve without any side dishes. At the more fancier dinner parties, use lobster knife.

7. This dish of Leeches is perfect with a nice, healthy bottle of vodka.

And remember those lake-side walks ! Even though you and I might consider the leech just a cute little pet to feed, to play with and to love, you must remember, things are different under the waters-edge . So don’t bolt, animal lovers and other animists – when in the leech infested water !

Kick them munchies with luscious leeches!

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by braunbayboater

I haven't seen any leaches but several times I have had multiple bites on me after walking in a silty area near our beach. Does anyone know what is biting me and how to get rid of the bugs? The bites are red like measles and itch even worse about 2 days after exposure.

Sorta sounds like duck itch, which can look like measles. Did it look anything like this?

[Newbiesaukee]

Hey, stop picking on leeches. They have a long and distinguished role in medical care. In fact, even today they are used to remove blood from certain kinds of traumatic injuries. They are specially raised in a clean environment and are, at least, free of serious germs. They produce an anticoagulant which is also being medically studied.

Besides, leeches steal the scene from Hepburn/Bogart in "The African Queen."

[Chickie]

Three cheers for leeches, Newbiesaukee! Thank you for pointing out the valuable role they play in the field of medicine.

[trfour]

Originally Posted by braunbayboater

I haven't seen any leaches but several times I have had multiple bites on me after walking in a silty area near our beach. Does anyone know what is biting me and how to get rid of the bugs? The bites are red like measles and itch even worse about 2 days after exposure.

Could be from these critters; http://www.medicinenet.com/chiggers_bites/article.htm

[Rattlesnake Gal]

There is a very distinctive pattern to a leech bite.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by braunbayboater

I haven't seen any leaches but several times I have had multiple bites on me after walking in a silty area near our beach. Does anyone know what is biting me and how to get rid of the bugs? The bites are red like measles and itch even worse about 2 days after exposure.

That sounds like my experience. On a particularly hot July day two years ago, I put a chair into the lake to keep cool—and to remain in my favorite outdoors place .

Within ten minutes, something bit me underwater—then twice again. I never saw what caused it, but the itching effects lasted for nearly ten days, even with the application of 0.1% Aristocort (triamcinolone acetonide) lotion.

(Maybe it was a particularly advanced stage of the "Duck Itch" cercaria critter?)

Nobody locally seems to know what it could have been: Duck Itch takes a few hours to assert itself, and this was an "instant" bite—and itched at least as badly as a duck itch bite.

I'm fairly certain they can't be "red-bugs" (chiggers), which are encountered when strolling through Florida's tall wet grasses.

In Florida, a lake near me is named "Red Bug Lake". (A good name for a lake if you don't want neighbors).