Blood as food

This article is about blood as human food. For blood as animal food, see Hematophagy.
Blood
Pig's blood cakes
Place of originVarious
Main ingredientsAnimal blood

Blood as food is the usage of blood in food, religiously and culturally. 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.[1] 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 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. Certain fractions of animal blood are used in human medicine.[2]

  1. ^ Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. 2nd ed. UK: Oxford University Press, 2006., p. 81-82.
  2. ^ Klostermeyer, Henning; Schmandke, Horst; Soeder, Carl J.; Schreiber, Wolfgang; Oehlenschläger, Jörg; Scholtyssek, Siegfried; Kobald, Margarete; Sander, Andreas; Eilers, Eberhard; von Kries, Edith (2007), "Proteins", Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (7th ed.), doi:10.1002/14356007.a22_289, ISBN 978-3-527-30673-2