14 DAY TRIAL // You surely know Italians and French find a delicacy in the frog legs. You too may enjoy them.
In some countries, dishes on frog legs are called "slough chicken". And southern Europe is not the only place where people consume frogs. In Latin America the frogs of the genus Leptodactylus are extremely appreciated and called "mountain chicken" and the largest frog of all, the Goliath frog from Camerun, is in danger because is overhunted for food by the locals.
In Peru there is much more cruelty: they sell Extracto de Rana ("frog extract"). Live frogs are squeezed in the hands and the resulting liquid is mixed with honey, malt and herbs to produce a supposedly healthy tonic drink. It would be unthinkable in other places.
In South Korea, dried frogs are sold in markets. They are kept in hot water to make a sort of stew or infusion and fed to sick children, but it is not clear if they are more of a threat than a cure.
But the way Chinese men ingest frogs is unique. Jiang Musheng, a 66-year-old resident of Jiangxi province (southeast China), has swallowed for 40 years live tree frogs and rats and he claims they helped against intestinal pain and strengthened him. He experienced frequent abdominal pains and coughing from the age of 26, until an old man called Yang Dingcai suggested tree frogs as a treatment.
"At first, Jiang Musheng did not dare to eat a live, wriggling frog, but after seeing Yang Dingcai swallow one, he ate ... two without a thought. After a month of eating live frogs, his stomach pains and coughing were completely gone." wrote Beijing News.
After a few years, Jiang added live mice, baby rats and green frogs to his cure and ate even 20 mice in a single day. Moreover, he said he never got worms since then.
Frog skin contains indeed many antibiotics and bacteria that make it extremely resistant to rotting. And toxins from the skin of the tree frog could indeed have some effect against diseases.
