Mixing up Silk Chow-DIY

Mixing up Silk Chow-Stove Top-DIY

I wanted to make a DIY of mixing silk chow... even though this is somewhat straight forward I thought it might inspire some people to buy mix instead of pre-made chow. I also thought it might help out those who are worried about making the chow for keeping silks and hornworms. It is pretty simple, and a good work out for your arm.

The idea with boiling the water is to kill any germs. This entire process can be done in a microwave. The chow still needs to be added to the water though... and before it is heated in the microwave. Mixing dry chow with cool or cold water is a pain. I recommend heating the water before mixing and then microwaving. then remove from the microwave and stir some more. I use the method below because since I moved I do not have a microwave (its coming...). I am starting to think this method is easier since I don't have to handle HOT cups of chow, stir, nuking, handle, stiring and then nuking some more....

I started out by weighing 1lb of dry mix (I have a 10lb bag of the dry mix.)



Measure out 6 cups of water in a large pot, bring to a light boil.



Pour in some dry chow and turn your pot to mid heat. You want to keep it warm but not boiling.... ya don't need to have chow splattering around the stove top.... Your wife or husband, parents, grand parents... whoever you live with might get upset



I start out with a cheap IKEA whisk (BTW these are great for gravy mixes)



You want to stir the mix until you can't see any dry clumps....



Once you get rid of the clumps add some more chow.... As you add dry chow and mix it in, the goo becomes thicker.





Here, I am about half way through with the dry stuff...





I am slowly adding dry chow... as you can see it is getting thicker....





When the chow becomes too thick for my small whisk I switch to a larger one....



This is the remaining mix being added....

Continued





Once all the dry chow is added and mixed, prep your pan. I use wax paper in a cake pan. I zeroed the scale to get a reading on the chow's weight when complete.





1lb of dry chow with 6 cups of water makes 3.3132lbs of chow when complete.



Just after pouring the chow I cover it with plastic wrap. This helps keep the moisture in the chow as it cools.



I then place in the fridge to cool. As I need chow I cut out slices and serve to my hungry silk worms.

If you were going to make HW cups you would pour the chow into cups with a netting for the worms to cling to. Maybe that will be an appendix to this thread.

Very nice demonstration! I'm sure all the silkie folks out there will love it!

summoner you do it again let me just start by saying you are a true asset to this forum! Tirelessly posting diy threads with tons of great pics and easy to follow instructions add that to all the information you provide to newbies and experts alike and one can see your importance to this forum thank you for all your hard work ! TODAY SUMMONER WE SALUTE YOU !!!!!! PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!!!!

Where was this when I made chow the first time. Lets just say the first time I ended up with something less desirable. even for a silk worms.


Very nice DIY

Great post.
But I must admit I have never ever gone to that much trouble to mix up chow. I just put three or four table spoons of dry chow in a small container. Add a little bit of water straight from the boiling kettle. Stir/squish it up, add a little more boiling water, until I have a thick paste. Done. takes maybe 5 minutes tops. I usually let it cool before I feed it to the silkworms. And I just repeat this minor task ever couple of days. This ensures I always have just enough, never too much, and that its fresh and not too wet.

sandrachameleon said:

Great post.
But I must admit I have never ever gone to that much trouble to mix up chow. I just put three or four table spoons of dry chow in a small container. Add a little bit of water straight from the boiling kettle. Stir/squish it up, add a little more boiling water, until I have a thick paste. Done. takes maybe 5 minutes tops. I usually let it cool before I feed it to the silkworms. And I just repeat this minor task ever couple of days. This ensures I always have just enough, never too much, and that its fresh and not too wet.

Click to expand...

That's a good idea. I just do one batch like this and it lasts me two or three months. If I keep it sealed well, it won't dry out or go bad in the fridge. I am not a huge fan of how this stuff smells when making it so I try to make the chow last .

summoner12 said:

That's a good idea. I just do one batch like this and it lasts me two or three months. If I keep it sealed well, it won't dry out or go bad in the fridge. I am not a huge fan of how this stuff smells when making it so I try to make the chow last .

Click to expand...

I have to agree... plus the powder makes me sneeze.

summoner12 said:

That's a good idea. I just do one batch like this and it lasts me two or three months. If I keep it sealed well, it won't dry out or go bad in the fridge. I am not a huge fan of how this stuff smells when making it so I try to make the chow last .

Click to expand...

I'd very likely do the same if I needed chow for that long. I suspect I use fewer silkworms than you do!

Tangent - have you found that once they get some real mulberry leaves, they dont like to switch back to chow? This has been my experience - they willingly switch from chow to real leaves, but not the other way around!

to make this post even sweeter, we need Giada Laurentiis to demonstrate making the chow in video!


No, kevin... it won't work the same with you.
just kidding!
awesome post!

aaaaCHEEWWWW

Ryan Jarosek said:

I have to agree... plus the powder makes me sneeze.

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LOL yeah same here dude! and the stupid big bag ALWAYS ends up puffing out fine dust in my face..... My GF gets so mad when I make this stuff cause there is green powder everywhere! I wonder how they get it ground down so fine?!

Shes not bad looking!

dodolah said:

to make this post even sweeter, we need Giada Laurentiis to demonstrate making the chow in video!

No, kevin... it won't work the same with you.
just kidding!
awesome post!

Click to expand...

Dang Frans! that pic is a bit revealing!

(I don't mind)

At least you didn't post pics of Rachael Ray

"silk chow in 30 minutes!"

WOW!

could giada be any sexier i think not thanks for posting those pics now if you will excuse me i gotta go somthing came up!!!!!!!

ciafardo 4 said:

could giada be any sexier i think not thanks for posting those pics now if you will excuse me i gotta go somthing came up!!!!!!!

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Time to clean cages right?

dodolah said:

to make this post even sweeter, we need Giada Laurentiis to demonstrate making the chow in video!

No, kevin... it won't work the same with you.
just kidding!
awesome post!

Click to expand...

She's hotter than Kevin

Very nice DIY thread bud, this is the same basic method I follow with GA Bugs. It's also my experience that using this stove-top method rather than the microwave produces better results in the health of your silkworms. I think this is primarily because, as Kevin said, the boiling water kills the germs.

I don't recommend you store cooked chow for any longer than a month however because while it may look the same, it can and will go bad, and can be the main contributing factor with a large die-off of silkworms. So if you're only getting a small amount of silkworms, either from me or Kevin, I strongly recommend getting a premade pound of chow as monetary wise you pretty much break even and you're ensured the freshest chow for your little silkies

Thanks for the awesome thread Kevin!

-Dave

Need a better seal.

cgslim said:

She's hotter than Kevin

Very nice DIY thread bud, this is the same basic method I follow with GA Bugs. It's also my experience that using this stove-top method rather than the microwave produces better results in the health of your silkworms. I think this is primarily because, as Kevin said, the boiling water kills the germs.

I don't recommend you store cooked chow for any longer than a month however because while it may look the same, it can and will go bad, and can be the main contributing factor with a large die-off of silkworms. So if you're only getting a small amount of silkworms, either from me or Kevin, I strongly recommend getting a premade pound of chow as monetary wise you pretty much break even and you're ensured the freshest chow for your little silkies

Thanks for the awesome thread Kevin!

-Dave

Click to expand...

The package the chow came in said the chow is good afting being cooked for one to two months if kept in the fridge and air tight. I need to work on the air tight part......

and thanks!

I never trust chow kept longer than a month. Even with thousands of worms, I usually only cook up 1/2 lb of dry mix each batch. Usually lasts me a day...sometimes 2 lol

-Dave

cgslim said:

Yea, marketting ploy. I never trust chow kept longer than a month. Even with thousands of worms, I usually only cook up 1/2 lb of dry mix each batch. Usually lasts me a day...sometimes 2 lol

-Dave

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You must live a paranoid life lol in my experience as a keeper, feeding feeders... not a breeder of bugs, 1-2 months works(keeping it sealed). I don't write a date on the mix when I cook it up, but I prolly run through it faster than 1.5 months.

For those of you breeding bugs for a living, keeping it for more than a month might not be a good idea. But then again... if this is your livelihood, I'd think you know what your doing.

Time goes FAST!

WOW one month goes by fast! The batch of chow I made in this thread was completely used up on Monday 1-27-2009. Just a tad under one month. So I guess one month in real time is the same as 2-3 months in 'Kevin Time'.

I made another batch tonight. I made it exactly like I did in the DIY. I will update in 2-3 months time.....

OMG when i saw this thread i was like wow how interesting, then the love of my life was brought up that Italian minx Giada. and i just couldn't help but love this thread even more! Thanks everyone for this!