Caroline Davies
London Observer
Monday, May 12, 2008

It's low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range. In fact, some claim that Sciurus carolinensis - the grey squirrel - is about as ethical a dish as it is possible to serve on a dinner plate.
The grey squirrel, the American cousin of Britain's endangered red variety, is flying off the shelves faster than hunters can shoot them, with game butchers struggling to keep up with demand. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, whose game counter began selling grey squirrel meat two months ago.

At Ridley's Fish and Game shop in Corbridge, Northumberland, the owner David Ridley says he has sold 1,000 - at £3.50 a squirrel - since he tested the market at the beginning of the year. 'I wasn't sure at first, and wondered would people really eat it. Now I take every squirrel I can get my hands on. I've had days when I have managed to get 60 and they've all sold straight away.'

Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. 'It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts,' he said.

Both believe its new-found popularity is partly due to its green credentials. 'People like the fact it is wild meat, low in fat and local - so no food miles,' says Simpson. Ridley reckons that patriotism also plays a part: 'Eat a grey and save a red. That's the message.'

A glut of back-to-the-wild TV programmes featuring celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has also tickled the public's palate, but squirrel is still unlikely to be found in the family fridge. The Observer's restaurant critic, Jay Rayner, said he had never tasted squirrel, but if he did have it for dinner 'it would have to be a big, fat country squirrel and not one of the mangy urban ones you see in cities'.

'People may say they are buying it because it's green and environmentally friendly, but really they're doing it out of curiosity and because of the novelty value. If they can say, "Darling, tonight we're having squirrel", then that takes care of the first 30 minutes of any dinner party conversation. I see it remaining a niche. There's not much meat on a squirrel, so I'd be surprised if farming squirrel takes off anywhere some time soon.'

Personally I blame kittens for global warming. Those little fluff balls are up to no good.

I think there's some folks on this forum that are very good at squirrel fishing. Maybe they have some tips to help catch some this free range protein. My wife feeds the squirrels at our casa. Maybe I should set up a trap line and have a second income.

Yeah, come on Nofish - don't hold back and give us some *GOOD* squirrel recipes!

Squirrels are just rats with fuzzy tails. Just like pigeons are rats with feathers. I think my neighbor has killed every grey squirrel in our area. They dig up his flower bulbs so he sends them off to squirrel heaven.

squirrels are okay but a good possum, yummy to the max.

NO WAY Parker, ain't gonna happen! If I give out my grandfather's secret recipe, y'all will be out there flossing 'em
Here's a shot from the family reunion last year:

According to and old timer I know who moved up here from Oklahoma, "the squirrels around here aint no good. They taste like turpentine." because they dine on pinecones instead of acorns and walnuts.

Grey Squirrels are a invasive species that displace the native red squirrels. IMHO, they make good target practice.

Once again this shows how different the culture of the West is a lot different than the rest of the country. Squirrel hunting in the midwest and east is very popular. Squirrel hunting is often a first experince to young hunters. I have hunted and ate squirel many times in Michigan. Its not much different than eating a rabbit. If you mention that folks out here in the west and they look at you like your weird or a lower class for eating a squirrel. Same thing goes when convincing folks out west that bluegill, catfish, and perch are excellent table fair.

I'd much rather eat pearch, crappie or catfish than a rat on a stick. Out here we don't eat many vermin. I've shot rats at the dump but would never eat one.

Becuase a localized misconception has developed saying rabbits and squirrels are vermin. This is what you have learned so that is what you preach and do. Most people associate the squirrels living in urban areas to those living in rural areas. The are not the same, they have much different diets, and survival skills.

j 7 I've eaten many a cotten tail that I shot myself just have a hard time getting my mind around eating a rodent is all. I'm sure if you put enough butter on them they taste like chicken. I grew up shooting anything that crawled ran or jumped but there came a time where I wouldn't kill it if I wouldn't eat it so I kind of stopped hunting most everything. With fishing the way it has been I just might take up hunting again.

Thats a perfect start because rabbits are rodents. I'm just trying to educate the western myopic folks about practices that happen in other parts of the country and shown them its not as wierd as they think.

We westies don't marry our cousins either. Just a lot more opportunity out here I guess.

Yes, there was much more opportunity to mary your cousin and inbreed when the west was expanding. Calling westies myopic is not an insult and easties are just as myopic to our ways in the west. I dont see what your stament has to do with eating squirrels.

Ok, I'll admit it. I grew up in Michigan and went to Indiana U. My "first kill" was a squirrel. I grew up in suburbia and dad didn't hunt. When I went off to college I got on the skeet team some how and those boys hunted.

The first year I hunted squirrels and the cook at the frat house cooked em up for me. At the end of the first season I discovered grouse and quit squirrel. That led to deer which led to ducks and geese which when I moved to Seattle in 92 after college led to pheasant/chuckar/quail and finally elk. It's all good though squirrel are long off the list. If I still lived back there I would certainly start the boy on those little tree climbers though. Hunting them taught me a lot about the woods and other animals.

I guess that was a long winded post to say "yeah I've eaten squirrel".

"Ok, I'll admit it. I grew up in Michigan and went to Indiana U. My "first kill" was a squirrel."

That's very good as the first thing one has to do to change is admit your problem. Just kidding but it kinda sounda like an intervention confession.

I've will admit I've never eaten squirrel, possum or raccoon. I will admit to crappie, bluegill and perch and they were good. The taste was not much different that a rockfish. If the possum or raccoon is a roadkill then at least it's been 'grilled'.

When I was stationed in New Jersey, I hunted squirrels and again when I was in Oklahoma. I don't remember what the limit in NJ was, but I am pretty sure it was 8 in Ok. Had no trouble shooting a limit. Also had no trouble eating them.

But I'm thinking that diet might have something to do with taste. All the one's I ate were quite good. I'm not sure if that would be true up here. Not open anyway, at least that I know of.

Had a Sargeant buddy whose wife was German. We stashed all our game that wasn't eaten right away (there were about 5 of us who hunted every chance we got) in their freezer. Thanksgiving came around and out came the frozen variety and his wife made a huge pot of stew. Squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, and a couple others.......damn, that was good stuff.