Kate - That's great! Post a picture over on the cooking forum next time you make a batch! LOL

Happy - Have you tried using Sluggo around the plants? It is OMRI apaproved. It doesn't need to be applied on the actual plants. I just sprinkle it on the soil around the plants and it usually wipes them out within a few days. Granted this is in an area where snails and slugs are not nearly as numerous as what Floral and Kate deal with.

Annpat - No harm no foul as long as you abide by the 5 second rule!

Given that you are z10, but we know not where, you might check this link https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2009/04/snails-slugs-and-semi-slugs-a-parasitic-disease-in-paradise/

I often eat greens unwashed straight from the garden, though any portion that contain slug slime is discarded. The way I look at it, if you've ever hand picked slugs, then you know how difficult it is to clean the slimy stuff of your fingers ... so, even if well washed, I don't wish to eat previously slug slimed greens.

Slug slime is a recognized skin healing and restoring ingredient, and I think it is being researched as a medical adhesive. The stuff absorbs water, though (slugs use it to prevent dehydration), so it will wash off. Slugs and snails can be rich in parasites, and I gather that those parasites can sometimes reside in the slime. This is a big deal in Hawaii in certain types of mollusks, so if you are there, some caution is advised.

https://youtu.be/Qm4vXf88piA?t=1m28s

Ha!

>>Slug slime

Not to mention hagfish slime!

"Hagfish produce slime as a defense mechanism when disturbed. The small amount excreted rapidly absorbs water, expanding by 10,000 times in half a second."

In 2017, a tanker truck full of hagfish destined for Korea spilled its load on an Oregon highway.

Mmmm, yum! I wonder if the occupants of that vehicle still intend to eat the greens they had just picked up from the grocery store? LOL !

I probably eat several slugs a month. inadvertently of course.

heck when I grew greens in my raised big bins....sev yrs ago when lucky...before this rocky hh....well anyway

. I run out and pick right before dark or if dark used my headlights flashlights to pick and cook immediately. Hubby would go thru half hazardously compared to me ... found several green caterpillars and slugs... so I'm sure I ended up eating them.

Heck I have several cans of escargot got at salvage store.. Hubby eats sardines could they be worse? LOL

I just luv y'all you fellow gardeners make me laugh.

I usually wash my garden produce before eating, mostly because I dislike the texture of "grit", rather than fear of insects.

Many people all over the world eat bugs on purpose. Here in the US, the food industry allows a certain amount of "defects" in canned and packaged food. For instance, in peanut butter the allowable level is approximately 30 "insect parts" per 100 grams of product. Tomato juice may average “10 or more fly eggs per 100 grams or five or more fly eggs and one or more maggots.” Tomato paste and other pizza sauces are allowed a denser infestation — 30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams or 15 or more fly eggs and one or more maggots per 100 grams. Canned mushrooms may have over 20 or more maggots of any size per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid or five or more maggots two millimeters or longer per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid or an average of 75 mites before provoking action by the F.D.A.

Like beer? Hops can have up to 2500 plant lice in 10 grams.

So, I think having a slug on the lettuce is probably the least of our bug consumption, and knowing what's in commercially purchased food is just another reason I do a lot of my own canning!

Oh, and those defects? According to the FDA, that includes:

“insect filth,” “rodent filth” (both hair and excreta pellets), “mold,” “insects,” “mammalian excreta,” “rot,” “insects and larvae” (which is to say, maggots), “insects and mites,” “insects and insect eggs,” “drosophila fly,” “sand and grit,” “parasites,” “mildew” and “foreign matter” (which includes “objectionable” items like “sticks, stones, burlap bagging, cigarette butts, etc.”).

Yeah, I'll just eat my homegrown lettuce, thanks. (grin)

Annie

I usually remove the slugs first.............depends how hungry I am. haha.

Seriously though, I would just give things a wash if I could actually see a problem but I'm certainly not one who worries about a little dirt or signs of bug damage. Like noticing that my fingertips are clean after finishing a sandwich after gardening.

"Gardening is a great introduction to the fact that most of the fresh fruit and veggies you've eaten have been pooped on at some point."

^^ LOL yea this!

The only thing that unequivocally makes me want to vomit is maggots {shudder}. Can deal with pretty much everything else -- a good wash/rinse takes care of things.

I think this question started out wondering if it was OK to eat slug slime, which descended into molluskophobia. Now we're talking about helminthophobia, and more generically, entomophobia. Get help.

Just picked a bunch of chard for dinner. It's soaking and I'm definately going give it a good wash! Thanks! ;)

Actually, when I have a full garden going, I'll have lunch munching on several veges rinsed in a tub of water!

as Dan says. I would rather eat insects than white flour, canola oil, or sugar. In fact they are quite tasty. For the curious, Mexico City is the place to go for restaurants that serve insects. Too many of them taste good so a list would not be helpful. Several types of maggots are among the best, due to their fat content and mild flavor. They are also nutritionally very dense.

But this isn't a question of what is good to eat. It's a question about phobias. The OP wants to know if anyone else has that phobia.

if you have that phobia there are many parts of the US where gardening becomes impossible. Slugs are ubiquitous, and they hide quite well in the greenery. In my case, I find them most often in chicory, which I eat a lot of, often along the leaf vein. They cling to it through a ride in the salad spinner. They are not obviously eliminated from your greens supply, unless you are willing to inspect a head leaf by leaf.

I agree. Some people have a fear of bugs that is debilitating. If you want to garden, but can't bear doing so if you're going to see a bug, you just aren't going to garden. As it turns out, I don't have ANY slugs or snails. I used to have loads when I was on the west coast, but that is one garden pest that I just never see these days on my plants. Well, I think I've seen a couple of snails, but they are never on my plants when I see them.

The idea that, oh, if you can't stand slugs and snails, then just eat them, makes no sense at all.

It's not a phobia to want to avoid the slimey texture of slug slime in your mouth. I cut the slime part off and eat the rest.

Organic garden soil is another story, and can actually be good for you, providing good bacteria for the digestive tract and your immune system.

The OP was really grossed out by slugs and snails. I call that a phobia.

Bacteria from garden soil being good for your digestive tract? That's a new one. There is some research that suggest that one type of soil microbe may have an anti-depressant quality, but that has nothing to do with your digestive tract. In fact, soil is loaded with bacteria that can be harmful to humans. Don't eat garden soil.

Phobia is a type of anxiety disorder that describes an excessive and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation. Phobias involve intense fear surrounding an object or situation that realistically poses little or no real danger.

Being grossed out or disliking the texture of something in your mouth is not a phobia.

There's new info on soil bacteria being good for you, not eating handfuls, but not necessary to "scrub" your carrots before eating. Lots of research out there on this. Here's a layman's article as a start.

http://www.thegoodgut.org/how-more-dirt-in-your-diet-helps-improve-your-gut-health/

Indeed all sauerkraut bacteria are common soil dwelling bacteria. They come from the cabbage itself.

Most useful yeasts and bacteria are soil dwelling. No one is saying they're not. The issue here is whether toxic organisms also reside in the soil. They do. In spades. Of course, if they reside in the soil, you're getting a dose of them with every breath you take. Think about pollen allergies. You're not eating that pollen. You're breathing it. A pollen cell is a bit bigger than a tetanus bacterium, so the latter will have no problem going airborne.

Well the last time I grew broccoli in the veggie garden was after I brought in a few large heads. Rinsed them really well like normal and handed them to the wife who ruff cuts them ... and goes and steamd them. After they were done .... she lifts the pan lid off and gasps a bit and calls me in. I go in to see ... and the bit of water below the steamer was chock full of variously sized caterpillars... freshly boiled. And that’s the last time I grew broccoli in the garden.

Yes, I think we all have that very same broccoli story :)

Nevermore, the same thing happened to me last year, but it was kale. I dumped a handful into a pot of boiling water, put on the lid. When I took the lid off I had little cabbage worms floating around. This was after washing the greens three times because I just HATE gritty greens. So I drained the water and the worms, boiled more water, dunked the greens, got some more worms. Rinse and repeat. Finally I got no floating worms, the greens were done, and so if any were left they were kale flavored and I ate them. I didn't tell anyone else, though!

Annie

Until now, annie.

It's just protein. But cooking it might be smarter.

kale story... yummy. I've pretty much given up on any veggie that cabbage butterflies and other various moths lay eggs on.. It's such a pain to keep up on BT powder... because if you miss a reapplication after a rain or whatever then the plants will soon become infested. After years of fighting it... i gave up and just buy them at the store.

So last year with the extra space I have in the veggie garden I tried out black sesame. The grew like a weed.. and a harvested 4 cups of black sesame seeds to add to dinners. Kinda fun.

My neighbor had some rather delicious sweet tasting kale, though she was unable to provide me with a full variety name. Since then, I've grown many kinds and none of it was even close to being good flavored and either bitter or just plain unpleasant, even after frost.

BTK has worked excellent for me, I use the concentrated liquid type and spray both the upper and lower foliage surfaces and have have ended up with totally worm free cabbage, even when only using the product two or three times during the season. As for root maggots, I plant marigolds right next to the cabbage and these do an excellent job of stopping the destructive buggers!

Today I learned my beer may have plant lice extract in it from the hops. Thanks you all. :-]

But it's probably pretty pretty sterile.

I found that the secret to cabbage maggots control is to apply BT late in the season. You kill the last generation, they are slow to repopulate next year.

anyhow you ll act like you have never considered arthropods yummy. You all have.

I used to catch them and put them in boiling water.

Of course, with BT, it's ewww ewww, I'm putting BACTERIA on my veggies! Must be some phobia about bacteria as well. Aha, there is! "Germophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of germs, bacteria, uncleanliness, contamination, and infection." Now, BT isn't going to infect you, but that's just what the scientists like to tell you, right? Actually, one hears that you become a BT-zombie if you eat the stuff. 'Phobes unite!

Thanks, FrozeBud, I'm going to try that with the marigolds. I always plant flowers in my garden to attract the pollinators and I've just given up growing rutabaga, parsnips, turnips and radishes because the root maggots are seemingly unstoppable (and prolific). I'm going to give the marigolds a shot at it!

Annie

Annie, the thing about doing marigolds with cabbages is that the marigolds must be planted right up CLOSE to the cabbage stems. Now, I don't mean six inches away, but snugged right up so that the marigold foliage is touching the cabbage stem right off the bat! See, those bugger little flies will be sniffing around so very soon after the cabbages are set out and that marigold foliage needs to be right there to deter them, I plant two marigolds for each cabbage plant. Now, yes, the large cabbage foliage WILL soon choke out the marigolds ... so, I go in from time to time and prune off the lowest cabbage leaves and the marigold have held their own. No, the marigolds are not there to provide a pretty display, but their odor will keep those flies away! Last year, I had done this as a test and after harvest had pulled up and examined the cabbage roots and they were very strong and vigorous and markedly free of any root maggot damage. So, in other words, whatever you wish to protect, plant those marigolds very nearby! :)

I'm with annpat, not to much bothers me when it comes from my own garden/orchard.

Thanks, FrozeBudd, I'm going to try that, nothing else has worked and it sure can't hurt!

Annie

I wonder if germaphobia existed before we knew there were germs? I presume obsession with cleanliness/washing is not a new thing, we just didn't know what we were afraid of before (and blamed it on spirits and the like).

There are people who seem to value bacteria in soil as being beneficial for the digestive system. Don't wash your veggies, they say! Some bacteria are, but lots aren't. Our immune systems can handle small amounts of bad bacteria. But the history of food hygiene is a remarkable one. I believe that in 500BC in China it was realized that it wasn't smart to eat dirty, smelly, or discolored food, though they didn't really know why.

Of course, with regard to soil borne bacteria, we ingest many just by breathing. Don't need to eat dirt to get them.

germophobia is in part due to an unnatural way of raising animals (enclosed in buildings, wrong diet, up to their knee in their excrement), and in part due to advertising by the cleaners industry.

At the same time we live longer then we have in the past ... so some germaphobia probably is a good thing

true. but we also don't live as long as some less rich cultures and groups.

Escargot are a French delicacy.

I just leave my reading glasses inside - what I can't see has never bothered me before. I haven't used a herbicide or insecticide in 35 years. Like annpat I just knock off the excess dirt against my pants and broccoli is so sweet early in the morning I just snap it off and eat it there.

I've always told my visitors what they might be eating but they keep coming back.

There are many things that you never see on your veggies, but you wash it and cut it and cook it and pretend like it's all good, and then eat it.

I figure it's the same thing at restaurants. I don't know what the cooks and servers did to the food before bringing it to me, but I just pretend like they all follow code and are respectful to food and customers, and eat it when it comes out.