blood (food)

Many cultures consume blood, often in combination with meat. The blood may be in the form of blood sausage, as a thickener for sauces, a cured salted form for times of food scarcity, or in a blood soup. This is a product from domesticated animals, obtained at a place and time where the blood can run into a container and be swiftly consumed or processed. In many cultures, the animal is slaughtered. In some cultures, blood is a taboo food.

Blood is the most important byproduct of slaughtering. It consists predominantly of protein and water, and is sometimes called "liquid meat" because its composition is similar to that of lean meat. Blood collected hygienically can be used for human consumption, otherwise it is converted to blood meal. Special fractions of animal blood are used in human medicine.

Methods of preparation

Sausage

Blood sausage is any sausage made by cooking animal blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. Pig or cattle blood is most often used. Typical fillers include meat, fat, suet, bread, rice, barley and oatmeal. Varieties include biroldo, black pudding, blood tongue, blutwurst, drisheen, kishka ( kaszanka), morcilla, moronga, mustamakkara, sundae, verivorst, and many types of boudin.

Pancakes

Blood pancakes are encountered in Galicia ( filloas), Scandinavia, and the Baltic; for example, Swedish blodplättar, Finnish veriohukainen, and Estonian veripannkoogid.

Soups, stews and sauces

Blood soups and stews, which use blood as part of the broth, include czernina, dinuguan, haejangguk, mykyrokka, pig's organ soup, tiet canh and svartsoppa.

Blood is also used as a thickener in sauces, such as coq au vin or pressed duck, and puddings, such as tiết canh. It can provide flavor or color for meat, as in cabidela.

Solidified

Blood can also be used as a solid ingredient, either by allowing it to congeal before use, or by cooking it to accelerate the process. Blood curd is a dish typically found in Asia that consists of cooled and hardened animal blood.

In China, " blood tofu" () is most often made with pig's or duck's blood, although chicken's or cow's blood may also be used. The blood is allowed to congeal and simply cut into rectangular pieces and cooked. This dish is also known in Java as ''saren'', made with chicken's or pig's blood. Blood tofu is found in curry mee as well as the Sichuan dish, Mao Xue Wang. Chinese people use pig blood, tofu, and vegetables to make a healthy soup. Pig blood is rich in vitamin B2, vitamin C, protein, iron, phosphorus, calcium, niacin and other nutrients, while tofu is good for the liver and stomach, and therefore this soup has a reputation as a healthy and tasty meal in China.

In Hungary when a pig is slaughtered in the morning, the blood is fried with onions and served for breakfast. In Peru they use chicken blood.

In Korea, blood curd is typically made of cattle blood and is often used as an ingredient for different kinds of soups and stews, such as hangover soup.

In Tibet, congealed yak's blood is a traditional food.

In Vietnamese cuisine pig blood curd is used in soup based noodles dishes such as Bún bò Huế or Bánh canh.

Raw

In some cases, blood is used as an ingredient without any additional preparation. Raw blood is not commonly consumed by itself, but may be used as an addition to drinks or other dishes. One example is the drinking of seal blood which is traditionally believed by the Inuit to bring health benefits.Borré, Kristen. "Seal Blood, Inuit Blood, and Diet: A Biocultural Model of Physiology and Cultural Identity." Medical Anthropology Quarterly 5 (1991): 48–62.

Nutrition bars

Russia and ex-USSR countries produce sweet nutrition bars containing cattle blood, known under the generic name Hematogen; originally created for treating anemia, they are also used like regular sweets nowadays.

Religious consumption of blood

The Catholic Church, as well as the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and some Anglican churches, believe that in the sacrament of the Eucharist, the participants consume the real blood and body of Jesus Christ. The post-communion prayer of the 1662 Anglican Book of Common Prayer describes the meal as "spiritual food". Many other Christian denominations symbolically consume the Eucharist.

The medieval cult of saint Thomas Becket in England included the drinking of "water of Saint Thomas", a mix of water and the remains of the martyr's blood miraculously multiplied.
The procedure was frowned upon by the more orthodox due to the similarities with the eucharist.

Cultural considerations

Some cultures consider blood to be a taboo form of food. In Abrahamic religions, Jewish and Muslim cultures forbid the consumption of blood. Blood and its by-products are forbidden in Islam, in the Qurʼan, surah 5, al-Maʼidah, verse 3. In the New Testament, blood was forbidden by the Apostolic Decree due to banning sacrifice of animals before idols, () and is still forbidden among Eastern Orthodox Churches. Catholic doctrine has been updated. See also Biblical law in Christianity and Communion (Christian).

The Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria has no explicit prohibitions against eating blood, but most regard it with disgust and refuse to eat any meat perceived as "bloody" or undercooked (such as raw meat in sushi or steak prepared raw, rare, or medium). Goats, cattle, and other animals slaughtered in the traditional Igbo manner are dispatched with a single cut across the neck and then most or all of the blood is allowed to slowly drain from the wound. This practice may have been influenced by the Igbo Jewish community that apparently predates contact with Europe. Many Igbos who buy butchered, packaged meat from groceries and supermarkets are in the habit of washing the blood from the meat with water before preparing it.

The taboos may be rooted in the fact that consuming greater quantities of blood is actually poisonous.Is It Safe to Drink Blood?
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Dishes

Africa

Among the Maasai people, drinking blood from cattle is a part of the traditional diet, especially after special occasions such as ritual circumcision or the birth of a child.

Cow blood is also consumed by the Bahima people.

The Herero people consumed cow blood with sour milk.

Americas

As in Europe, several varieties of blood sausage are also popular in Mexico, Newfoundland and Labrador and the southwest United States ( moronga), Chile (prietas, ñache), Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, and Puerto Rico (morcilla).

Brazil

In Brazil, the traditional Portuguese dish known as cabidela (see above) is also eaten, as well a stew made of pork blood and offal called sarapatel. Chouriço is a blood sausage also eaten in Brazil, known as morcilla in Spanish.

Colombia

In the western region of Santander Colombia, a dish called pepitoria is made from rice cooked in goat blood.

Mexico

Mexicans from certain regions eat goat's stomach stuffed with pork blood and vegetables as a delicacy.

Perú

In Perú, clotted chicken blood is fried with chili peppers and Welsh onion. This dish is called sangrecita