Is it safe to eat the mezcal worm?

Is it safe to eat the mezcal worm?

Nope. If you start seeing things after eating the worm, it probably has more to do with the mezcal you had to drink than the actual larva. Some people who have eaten a mezcal worm say it tastes like chicken. Luckily, there are other ways to enjoy that experience—try one of our recipes that actually use chicken!

Why are there worms in tequila?

Mezcal is a smokey, aromatic spirit while tequila is more robust. The legend of the worm started in the 1950s when a Mexican mezcal maker discovered a moth larvae in a batch of mezcal. This mezcal maker thought the worm’s presence actually improved its taste. He placed a worm in each bottle as a marketing strategy.

Where does the mezcal worm come from?

A mezcal worm is an insect larva found in some types of mezcal produced in Oaxaca, Mexico. The larva is usually either a gusano rojo (“red worm”) or a chinicuil (“maguey worm”), the caterpillar of the Comadia redtenbacheri moth. The red worm is typically considered tastier.

Are tequila worms alive?

Are Tequila Worms alive? That little worm inside your bottle of tequila is not alive. In fact, if it wasn’t for drowning in booze then that little worm would turn into a beautiful butterfly (or moth rather), as it’s not a worm at all. It’s the larvae of a moth.

Is the mezcal worm hallucinogenic?

Some great Mezcals are made with the worm in the bottle, but most aren’t. And, no, the worm doesn’t have any hallucinogenic effects. You’ll still need some mescaline or magic mushrooms for that.

Does all mezcal have a worm?

The higher the percentage of blue agave, the finer the bottle. So tequila is a type of mezcal, but mezcal is not tequila, and only mezcal has worms. These larvae are called gusano and bottles of mezcal that contain the lil guys are referred to as con gusano.

Does the worm in mezcal do anything?

Depending on who you ask, the worm has the powers of an aphrodisiac, can make you hallucinate, or will make you look hella dope in front of your friends. That last one might be true, but eating the worm won’t really accomplish anything other than making you a little drunker thanks to the alcohol it has absorbed.

Does mezcal have a worm in the bottle?

So tequila is a type of mezcal, but mezcal is not tequila, and only mezcal has worms. According to Anthony Dias Blue’s Complete Book of Spirits, that “worm” is actually a larva from one of two types of moths, known as maguey worms, that live on the agave plant.

Does the worm in tequila make you trip?

Why do you hallucinate when you eat the worm inside a tequila bottle? You don’t. There are no worms in tequila bottles. They are in mescal bottles, and they will not make you hallucinate.

Is tequila a mezcal?

Tequila is a type of mezcal, much like how scotch and bourbon are types of whiskey. According to spirits writer John McEvoy, mezcal is defined as any agave-based liquor. This includes tequila, which is made in specific regions of Mexico and must be made from only blue agave (agave tequilana).

Why is there no worm in tequila?

But the second, far more important reason—there is no worm in the bottom of the tequila bottle. The worm itself is actually a moth larvae called a gusano de maguey—since it feeds off of the maguey plant.

Why is there a worm in mezcal?

One of the urban legends surrounding the worm in mezcal is that the worm is so saturated in liquor that eating it causes a hallucinogenic reaction similar to that of peyote . This is likely one of the reasons why eating the worm remains a rite of passage to test the drinker’s machismo.

Why is there a worm in my Tequila bottle?

True imbibers of the alcohol can attest to the fact that worms are only found in tequila’s lower-class sister, which is known as mescal . Therefore, whenever you find a bottle of tequila with worm inside, there is a 99.9\% chance that it is not even really tequila at all.

Why is there a worm in Tequila?

Tequila was flooding the U.S., and mezcal needed a way to differentiate itself. From here, ideas that the gusano indicated purity (a strong, pure mezcal would keep the worm intact) or could impart virility or good fortune were just a matter of some marketing imagination.