Halloween feast? If you dare, forget the candy, eat what a vampire eats

We can almost hear the cackles.

But how we’ve missed what comes along with the holiday! The pumpkin spice lattes, the pumpkin spice candles, the pumpkin spice air spray and hand sanitizer the season brings.

And the blow-up plastic yard creatures too! Haven’t you yearned for the comeback of the 20-foot dragon that sways in the neighbor’s yard next to the enormous drooling, inflated ghost? And what about the covens of hot-air witches who, while eye-popping all night long, will, along with the dragon, lie flattened like wet laundry across lawns during daylight hours.

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Then there are the kiddies. Incognito as werewolves and princesses, and superheroes from A to Z, there is still nothing like a homemade Halloween vampire outfit to demonstrate the kind of bloody creativity parents encourage in tikes whose “passions” and “self-actualization” they hope will one day get their offspring into Harvard or Yale.

Give a kid a bedsheet, a couple of eyeholes, and lots of something liquid and red, and you’ve got the basis for a creative performance that might land the prodigy on the silver screen one day.

But of course, it sort of all comes down to the “blood.”

A warning about blood

Just like pumpkins, bloody guts at Halloween are de rigueur. And just like candy, its even cooler if they can be eaten.  (Wait. Gag. Where is this article going?)

Actually, it’s going to a place where many, many cultures have not only tip-toed, but marched with arms swinging and veins bulging. And that is to the certainty that consuming blood is not only “good for you,” but a hearty and tasty way to bring foods “to life.” Even if it’s not Halloween.

A strong caveat first: swigging down fresh blood from a crystal goblet, or coffee cup, or even warm from your donor (likely a recently demised animal) is not a healthy thing to do. Raw blood can contain harmful bacteria and pathogens that can cause food poisoning and pass on diseases such as hepatitis B and C, noroviruses, HIV, and tuberculosis.

Nevertheless, all around the globe, countries and diverse cultures have found ways to use the iron and protein found in blood as additions to foods that range from tasty thickeners in soups to, yes, stand-alone “blood popsicles,” that are all believed to bring health and gustatory benefits.

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Blood as an ingredient

Let’s look at a few of the traditional culinary uses for blood where, even if they don’t celebrate Halloween, their ingredients may give you a little shiver.

From France: Boudin Noir is poached blood loaf, elegantly served with apples and cream. Boudin balls are New Orleans staples.

Vietnam: Chao-Huyet, blood porridge using blocks of congealed pork blood served with vegetables and spice.

Poland: Czernina is a vinegary stew using goose or duck blood with prunes and pears for sweetness.

Taiwan: Covered in rice and peanut flour, Pig Blood Cakes are served fried and crispy on a handy popsicle skewer.

China: Bloody Curd is used like tofu in stir-fries in lieu of meat and served on greens or with soup.

Sweden: Blodplattar is a “plasma-based” blood pancake. With molasses and salt, the blood flapjacks are packed with iron.

Germany: There is nothing like fresh blood tongue and a beer and a pretzel, Germans insist.

England: Animal blood, fat, and oatmeal stuffed into a sausage casing gives us Black Pudding, delicious, the Brits say, for breakfast.

Italy: Sanguinaccio Dolce: fresh pig’s blood, sweetened with chocolate milk and sugar. Cooked, it becomes a “velvety pudding fit for a king.”

Not always for the weak

My one and only experience with warm, liquid hemoglobin was in Tanzania, where the villagers explained that by shooting a tiny arrow into a neck vein of a restrained bull, post-partum mothers or the weak would benefit by a few gulps of its blood served with milk from a gourd.

Well, I gulped, swallowed, swallowed again, and decided that it would be only right to give up my allotment to a new mom… actually any mom.

Here in Tallahassee, even though it is the season of the roving vampire, such gustatory opportunities are rare.

Nevertheless, should you wish, in the spirit of the season to sample a Draculean delicacy, try Coosh’s or Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille for deliciously dark Boudin Balls, or take a trip out Blountstown Highway to Silver Lake Meats for some rich blood sausage.

One cautionary suggestion: Avoid the newest rage in Halloween candies: “Gumdrop Brains” that squirt; “Bloody Bites;” and individual IV bags filled with heavily-sweetened candy blood.

Candy corn, we understand, is still readily available.

Marina Brown can be contacted at mcdb100@comcast.net.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Halloween feast? Forget the candy, some eat what a vampire eats