Chapter
21
As treated here, this region is
bounded on the west by
Regional Taxonomic Inventory
Taxa and stages consumed Countries
Coleoptera
Curculionidae (weevils, snout beetles)
Larinus mellificus Jekel, cocoon
Larinus onopordi Fabr., cocoon
Larinus rudicollis Petri, cocoon
Larinus syriacus Gyll., cocoon
Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles)
Blaps sp., adult
Pimelia sp., adult
Tenebrio sp., adult
Homoptera
Aphididae (aphids)
Aphid
species, honeydew
Cicadellidae (leafhoppers)
Euscelis decoratus Hpt., honeydew
Opsius jucundus Leth., honeydew
Pseudococcidae (soft scale insects)
Naiacoccus serpentinus Green, honeydew
Trabutina mannipara (Ehrenberg), honeydew
Trabutina sp., honeydew
Psyllidae (psyllids)
Chermes sp., honeydew
Hymenoptera
Cynipidae (gall wasps)
Aulacidea levantina Hed., galls
Orthoptera
Acrididae (short-horned grasshoppers)
Cyrtacanthacris septemfasciata (Serville), adult
Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal), adult Pan-regional
There are many accounts of the use
of locusts as food in this region, especially in the
Coleoptera
Curculionidae (weevils, snout beetles)
Larinus mellificus Jekel (= nidificans
Cap.), cocoons
Larinus onopordi Fabr. (= maculatus),
cocoons
Larinus syriacus Chevrolat, cocoons
Bodenheimer
(1951, pp. 224-225) discusses the
trehela cocoons of Larinus
weevils which are applied by popular medicine and by physicians throughout the
Aphididae (aphids)
Bodenheimer
discusses (pp. 22-23) the Kurdish manna produced in
Pseudococcidae (mealybugs)
Naiacoccus (= Najacoccus) serpentinus Green, sweet secretion
Trabutina sp., sweet
secretion
Bodenheimer (1951, p. 221) identifies
Hardwick's location as on "the Irano‑Baluchi border," and the
insect studied by Hardwick as a psyllid larva. Bodenheimer continues: "In
Psyllidae (psyllids)
Chermes sp., sweet
secretion from larva
Hardwick (1822 [1980], pp. 182‑186)
describes the nymph of a species of Chermes,
to which he attributes secretion of a saccharine substance known as Gez or Manna,
thus confirming a similar earlier conclusion by the French entomologist,
Geoffroy. Hardwick states his intention to name the insect "Chermis‑Mannifer" when the
adult becomes known, mentioning also that it appears to resemble Chermes alni. Hardwick states that the manna is found
"in pieces of various shapes; some flat, as taken off the leaves of the
tree; sometimes in cylindrical pieces, impressed with the figure of the stalk
or branch on which it has fallen."
A letter from a Mr. Hunter is quoted, in part, as follows:
These insects are found on the branches and leaves of trees, on which they swarm in millions, and work and generate this feather like substance, till it gets long, and drops on the leaves, caking on them, and resembling the most beautiful white bees wax; this hardens on the leaf, and takes the complete form of it, which you can strip off, bearing the very impression and imitation of the leaf itself, which no art could exceed.... I have seen a great deal of it about these hills, and much might be collected, I should suppose, were it desirable; there are no inhabitants however about here.
Hardwick
mentions that the manna has been found in Persia (Iran) and Armenia. Hunter's location was southwest of Husainabad
(India?).
Orthoptera
Acrididae (short-horned grasshoppers)
Bodenheimer (1951: 212) cites Le
Chevalier Chardin (in l7ll) who reported observing locusts in late March near
Bender Abbas in southern Iran. Bodenheimer summarizes his account as follows:
"...the sky appeared to be obscured by clouds owing to the locust swarms
flying 60 to 70 feet high, and wherever these swarms passed an enormous
quantity of locusts fell to the ground; big, red insects, so heavy that they
could not rise again. The peasants catch them as they drop. At that season
similar clouds passed almost every evening, and the locusts are caught, dried
and salted, but also eaten raw. They are sold on the markets of S. Iran as a
common food."
IRAQ,
ISRAEL, SYRIA, THE SINAI
Forbes (1813 [1834], I, pp. 31‑32) states:
I am surprised that commentators on the scriptures have perplexed themselves about the food of John the Baptist in the wilderness; which we are informed consisted of locusts and wild honey; and for which the cassia‑fistula, or locust tree, and many other substitutes have been mentioned; but it is well known that locusts are an article of food in Persia and Arabia, at the present day; they are fried until their wings and legs fall off, and in that state are sold in the markets, and eaten with rice and dates, sometimes flavoured with salt and spices: and the wild honey is found in the clefts of the rocks in Judea, as abundantly as in the caves of Hindostan.
Bodenheimer (1951, p. 212), citing the 1813 edition of
Forbes, states that his Acridites lineola,
which is the species commonly sold in the markets of Baghdad, is, in fact, Schistocerca gregaria.
Forbes (p. 32) continues:
We
often read in Scripture of the butter of kine, the milk of sheep, and the fat
of the kidneys of wheat; with the pure blood of the grape, and honey out of the
rock: 'He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with the
honey out of the stony rock would I have satisfied thee.' Psalm lxxxi, v. 16.
There can be as little doubt what that honey was, as of the wild honey on which
the Baptist fed in the wilderness; some of the greatest delicacies in India are
now made from the rolong‑flour, which is called the heart, or kidney of
the wheat: and most probably the brooks of honey and butter, mentioned by
Zophar, in the book of Job, were the liquid honey from the wild bees; and the
clarified butter, or ghee, used throughout Hindostan, which pours like oil out
of the duppers, or immense leather bottles in which it is transported, as an
article of commerce; and is every where preferred by the natives to butter not
so prepared.
The word kosher, derived from Jewish
ritual, though used in many contexts, has retained its original connection to
Biblical dietary laws (Isman and Cohen 1995). The dietary laws are stated intially in
Leviticus XI, with verses 20-23 referring specifically to insects. According to Isman and Cohen, the notion that
the rationale for the dietary restrictions is rooted in ancient hygiene and
health regulations is a common misconception that has no basis at all in the
biblical text. The dietary laws were
more spiritually based, part of the Israelites' obsession with discovering the
line separating the divine from the profane aspects of things.
The authors summarize the
characteristics of land animals and sea creatures that may or may not be eaten,
then review, in detail, the various scholarly interpretations of the verses
pertaining to insects. Biblical scholars
have generally deemed these verses to mean that locusts, grasshoppers, crickets
and possibly other closely related orthopterans are fit for consumption, while
other insects are excluded. In addition
to structural characteristics, ecology may be a factor in the acceptability of
orthopterans, especially acridians. The
authors note that acceptable mammals are all ungulates, feeding predominantly
on grasses. Predatory land animals,
including specific birds that are predaceous or feeders on carrion, are
excluded. The orthopterans, and
especially the acridians, which are primarily graminivorous may have been
viewed by the biblical legislators as analogous to the acceptable land animals.
The authors conclude: "The
dietary laws pertaining to insects are not merely of historical interest, but
are still of concern today. Many
observant Jews at present shun broccoli, believing that the tight clusters of
florets cannot be cleaned of insects with certainty. Rather than risk impurity, they avoid this
vegetable."
Coleoptera
Curculionidae (weevils, snout beetles)
Larinus mellificus (Jekel) (= nidificans Guibourt),
cocoon
Larinus onopordi Fabr. (= maculatus
Faldermann), cocoon
Larinus rudicollis Petri, cocoon
Larinus syriacus Chevrolat), cocoon
Guibourt (1858, p. 276; vide
Pierce 1915) states that the cocoon of the trehalose‑containing weevil, Larinus nidificans Guibourt, is used for
food in the Orient as commonly as salep and tapioca are used in France. His
material probably originated in Syria. Berthelot
(1858, pp. 1276‑1279; vide
Pierce 1915) found the chemistry of trehalose to be analogous with cane sugar,
with the formula C12H22O11.
Hanbury (1859, pp. 178‑183)
refers to the earlier literature on "trehala" or "tricala,"
citing the early Persian names for it (Shakir‑elma‑ascher) and
stating that the first reference to the substance was by Ange in his "Pharmacopoea
Persica" in 1681. Hanbury (vide Pierce 1915) described the cocoons of Larinus maculatus Faldermann, a species
occurring widely around the Mediterranean and as far east as Iran as ovoid or
globular and about 3/4 of an inch long. Their inner surface is composed of a
smooth, hard, dusky layer, external to which is a thick, rough, tuberculated
coating of a greyish‑white color and earthy appearance. They are found on
the stems of Echinops and
sometimes contain spiny portions of the leaves. The cocoons were imported into
Lahore from Hindustan (India) and were abundant in the shops of the Jewish drug‑dealers
in Constantinople (Istanbul), where Arab and Turkish physicians considered them
of value in treating respiratory diseases. Hanbury also notes the production of
a saccharine substance resembling dark honey made by the punctures of L. nidificans (= mellificus Jekel).
Apparently, the adult in puncturing Echinops
causes a flow of honey, and the larva after feeding to maturity constructs a
saccharine cocoon.
Gervais and
van Beneden (1859, pp. 311‑313;
vide Pierce 1915) described the uses of trehala and how the decoction is
prepared for use against respiratory problems, especially bronchial catarrh. A
liter of boiling water is poured over about 15 grams of cocoons, this being
then stirred for about 15 minutes, and then boiled. It is drunk by the patient
without being filtered. The species they referred to was Larinus syriacus Chevrolat, found on Onopordon in the desert between Aleppo and
Baghdad. The cocoons must be collected before the weevils emerge.
Capiomont and Leprieur (1874,
p. 65; vide Pierce 1915) describe the taste of the L. nidificans cocoon as sweet, and state that it swells in
water but does not completely dissolve even after long boiling. It contains 66%
of a substance similar to sago (a tasteless carbohydrate, C24H42O21),
a small amount of gum and inorganic mineral matter, and 28% of the trehalose
sugar. The authors cite the occurrence of this species in Syria and Iran, and
state that it is used as a decoction against bronchial catarrh and as a food
like tapioca.
Pierce (1915), after reviewing previous literature
on Larinus and trehalose, states
that the genus is confined to feeding on Compositae related to the
thistle. The larvae usually feed at the
base of the flower head and then construct a cocoon. According to Pierce, the cocoon is made by
abdomenal excretion, and the larva diminishes considerably in size during its
construction.
Bodenheimer (1951, p.225) mentions
that cocoons of Larinus rudicollis
Petri are found in Israel. He also refers to an earlier publication
(Bodenheimer 1935, pp. 247, 249) in which he mentioned buying cocoons of Larinus onopordi Fabr. in the bazaar in
Baghdad. This species is widely distributed "from Turkestan to the
Mediterranean shore."
Homoptera
Kaiser (1924, 1930; vide
Bodenheimer 1951, p. 221) discovered minor manna secretions on the shrubs of Haloxylon and Artemisia in the Sinai, but was not able to find the insects
responsible for them.
Aphididae (aphids)
Aphid
spp. honeydew
Cicadellidae (leafhoppers)
Euscelis decoratus (author?), sweet manna excretion
Opsius jucundus (author?), sweet
manna excretion
Pseudococcidae (mealybugs)
Naiacoccus (= Najacoccus) serpentinus Green, sweet manna excretion
Trabutina mannipara (Ehrenburg), sweet manna excretion
Manna
production by the various insect groups
Bodenheimer (1929) identified two
small "cicadas," Euscelis
decoratus Hpt. and Opsius
jucundus Leth. (Jassidae), as additional manna producers on tamarisk
(pp. 75 ff.; vide Bodenheimer 1951, p. 221).
Bodenheimer (1929; vide Leibowitz 1943) identified the manna of the
Sinai desert as the excretion of the scale insects, Trabutina mannipara and Najacoccus
serpintinus, on the leaves of Tamarix
mannifera. Leibowitz (1943) analyzed scale manna supplied by Prof. Bodenheimer from
northern Iraq, noting that, "The Bedouin gather this sweet product from
leaves of trees and bushes, and use it as a sugar substitute in coffee."
The sugar fraction was found to consist mainly of the rare disaccharide
trehalose. Two samples contained 30% and 45% of trehalose, respectively,
calculated on the basis of total dry matter, and 70% and 80%, respectively,
calculated on the total carbohydrate content. The remaining carbohydrate
consisted of sucrose and invert sugar containing an excess of glucose.
Bodenheimer (1947) argues that the
manna of Biblical history (Exodus 16 and Numbers 11) was the excretion of two
species of scale insects, Trabutina
mannipara Ehrenberg and Najacoccus
serpentinus Green. First, he gives strong biological evidence
against the widely held view that the lichen, Lecanora
esculenta, was identical with the manna. Then he says:
The
record of the oldest local traditions of Sinai comes from Flavius Josephus and
the early monks of the St. Catherine monastery. These reports link the manna
with the tamarisk thickets in the wadis of the Central Sinai mountains. Here
year after year in June appears a granular type of sweet manna from pinhead to
pea size. It appears on the tender twigs of tamarisk bushes for a period of
three to six weeks. The quantity of this manna fluctuates according to the
winter rainfall. The crop may fail entirely in one wadi and at the same time be
plenteous in others. Certain wadis such as Wadi Nasib and the Wadi esh‑Sheikh
are especially famous for their manna production. Usually the annual crop does
not exceed several kilograms, but one steady man may collect over a kilogram a
day at the peak of the season. This certainly does not allow for the 'bread' or
daily food of the wandering Israelites. However, we must note that lechem does not have an original meaning
of bread, but of food in general. Otherwise, it could not have come to mean
'meat' in Arabic. All in all, the nutritive value of these few kilograms of
manna could not have been important enough to deserve a recording in Israel's
history. There must have been a special quality to justify its inclusion in the
chronicle. The special quality was its sweetness.
Bodenheimer
says that sweetness is the highest "culinaric dream" of the nomad in
the desert, and, therefore, "the sudden discovery of a source of pure and
attractive sweetness would have been an exciting event."
According to Bodenheimer, all of the
statements about manna in the early formations of Scripture agree with the
biological observations; it was the later commentaries that produced
divergences. He says:
We
begin with the criteria of space and time. The location of the manna excretion
which is given in the older codes as beginning at Elim (near Wadi Gharandel)
and ending at Rephidim (the oasis Feiran), agrees well with the northern limits
of the manna excretion in our day. Manna was first discovered on the 15th day
of the second month after the Exodus from Egypt. This would be the middle or
end of Siwan, which is late May or early June. This date agrees with the
natural season of manna production. The description of manna in the Bible,
which likens it to small, light brown cummin seeds and to the stickiness of
bdellion resin, is a remarkably suitable description of the tamarisk manna. In
the Bible its taste is described as like that of sappihith bidhvash, which easily may refer to the
crystalized grains so often found on the surface of honey. Exodus 16:14 and
Numbers 11:9 state that the manna fell from heaven during the night. Actually,
most of the dropping of manna, or at least its accumulation on the soil, occurs
at night when the ants are not collecting it.... All those manna grains which
drop from late afternoon to early morning remain until the beginning of ant
ativity in the morning. Then, however, they are speedily collected and carried
away.
Accordinq to Bodenheimer, T. mannipara is the manna producer in the
mountains, N. serpentinus in the
lowlands. The manna, of course, is the well‑known "honeydew"
excretion of many aphids and scale insects, and the drops, which are excreted
mainly by the larvae and immature females, evaporate quickly to sticky solids
in the dry air of the desert. "Man" is the common Arabic name for aphids,
and "man es‑simma" (the manna of heaven) for honeydew. A number
of small cicadas found in Sinai, southern Iraq, and Iran are locally called
"man," and they produce small quantities of a product similar to
manna which is used as a delicacy and as an ingredient in popular medicines.
Bodenheimer states that: "The most famous manna product of the Middle East
is the Kurdish manna which is collected by the thousands of kilograms every
year in June and July. It is used for the preparation of special confections
which are sold in the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere under the name of 'man.'
This manna is also produced all over the general Kurdistan region in the
extensive oak forest by a still undetermined aphid."
Bodenheimer (1951, pp. 217‑225)
discusses Middle East mannas in general, incorporating information from his
earlier works. Of the Kurdish manna from northern Iraq, a sample of which was
analyzed by Leibowitz (see above), Bodenheimer gives the following information
(p. 222): "In October, 1942, Gelal Bey, then Qaimakam of Shuarta, treated
us to some manna in the same condition as above [from Turkey] and also with a
purified morsel, which had been boiled and pressed through cloth. It is
collected in the surrounding oak forests and is consumed by the peasants as a
sweet for breakfast in the form of sherbet drinks, or as a popular medicament.
Mixed with flour the manna is turned into delightful cakes." In Iraqi
Kurdistan, the oak, Quercus infectoria is
the source of the manna. Other oak species are the source in Iranian Kurdistan.
Bodenheimer states that, without a doubt, the producer of this manna is an
aphid (species unknown). The main season is June, with a second minor peak in
September.
Bodenheimer (p. 223) cites a report
by Jafar al Khayat in 1937, in the files of the Directorate General of
Agriculture, that the Iraqian manna is regarded as a secretion of oak leaves
believed to be caused by the feeding of a small green aphid. Bodenheimer's account, from Khayat's report,
is as follows:
The
manna first appears on the under surface of the leaves as a gummy liquid, which
drops on the upper surface of the lower leaves, on branches and on the soil. It
is collected in a great many places of the Liwa Sulaimaniya and also in the
Halebje district. It is entirely restricted to the forests of Quercus infectoria in the higher
altitudes. Its normal season is from the middle of June to the second half of
July, and it is collected in the coldest hours of the early morning. The
peasants believe that it drops from the sky on the leaves and soil. When rains
are heavy in spring and in June, the manna and the insects which produce it are
washed off the oaks, and the manna production is small. Cold winds increase,
hot winds and warm, cloudy weather decrease its quantity. When the weather has
been favourable and much manna has formed on the trees, the collectors begin
their work. They cut large numbers of the branches on which manna has been
formed in any substantial quantity. The branches are then beaten until the
manna has dropped off. It is gathered into skin bags and brought to the market
as lumps of crystallized manna mixed with pieces of oak leaves and dirt. Very
rarely pure, white manna is found. The confectioners who buy it there, beat it
into pieces until it becomes soft. Then it is filled into jars, mixed with
water and left for 24 hours. The liquid is poured into bags (al shal), which
are suspended above vessels. The bags are pressed and the liquid which passes
out is collected in the vessels. This liquid is then mixed with eggs, 50 eggs
for each 400 gr. of manna, with almonds or nuts and with some essences. The
whole is boiled, cooled and cut into pieces, which are covered with fine sugar
powder. This is the manna which is sold in the markets and streets of Baghdad. The
Iraki authorities estimate that annually about 30,000 kg. of manna are sold on
the markets throughout the country, two thirds of which come from the Iranian
side of Kurdistan.
Kosztarab (1987) makes brief reference to Trabutina mannipara (Ehrenburg) and Naiacoccus serpentinus Green (Pseudococcidae), the manna producers on Tamarix