"parrotheada1a" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Unless you live around Louisiana, you're probably getting frozen bugs.
> More likely than not, they're coming from China. The Chinese farm them
> in rice paddies just like shrimp. I can get peeled & parcooked tailmeat
> at Wally world for about $8.00 a bag, frozen & cryovaced. I wouldn't
> make nigiri out of them at any rate, the tails are rather small.
> Probably the best way to handle these things is either in a handroll or
> a maki. I chop up a bunch of tails, so they are in good sized chunks.
> Then I add some mayo, mirin & hots, pretty much the same as for spicy
> tuna. This goes into the maki with a generous helping of green onion
> shreds, or shredded pea pods.
>
> Jim
>

In Japan, crayfish have been around for about 100 years or so, having been
accidentally introduced from the US. They are considered as pests by rice
farmers
as they cause damage to the rice in the paddies. Oddly, although Japanese
people will eat
just about anything that lives in water, nobody ever acquired a taste for
the
freshwater crayfish. In fact some of Japanese friends are rather surprised
when I tell
them that those crayfish are prized as food in both US south and in Sweden
as well.
As Dan pointed out, I doubt they'd be safe in raw form, but don't see why
they can't
be used in cooked form, perhaps chopped.
I'm not surprised frozen crayfish tails are imported from China.
Nearly all the frozen Edamame and Unagi sold in Japan is imported from China
too.

M