"Capybara meat is white and has qualities and properties (such as high emulsification) that might allow it to compete with pork and other meats in the food industry. Spanish-style sausages, Italian-style mortadellas, frankfurters, and German-style smoked chops have been produced experimentally. However, at present, the meat is mainly consumed only in the dried and salted form. It is particularly popular in Venezuela, where more than 400 tons are sold every year, especially during Easter festivities."
Also!:
"When tame, the animals are amenable to handling without physical restraint. They are so tractable that in Surinam a blind man once used one as a guide animal."
From:
National Research Council. 1991. Microlivestock: Little-known
small animals with a promising economic future. National Academy
Press..
Some information on other capy products from one of our correspondents:
I know you don't like the thought of eating Capy but you should know that also locally (here in Buenos Aires) there are top grade leather items made of capy: belts, wallets, jackets. Rough, soft leather. I guess you are seeing the hair pores. The natural leather is blond-cream color. Usually died a medium rich brown. The leather has character' due to frequent scarring of the animals in the wild. Because of the texture the wallets are pickpocket proof.... And note that locally the animal is universally called 'carpincho'...... - Pete Ambler
You can find several online sites selling capybara leather products by searching on 'carpincho'. One example is here.
Capy meat in the news:
August 1999
World's largest rodent considered a delicacy by Venezuelans
By BART JONES
Associated Press Writer
MANTECAL, Venezuela (AP) When Venezuelans'
appetite for capybara clashed with the church's ban on eating
meat during Lent, a local priest asked the Vatican to give the
world's biggest rodent the status of fish. People
rejoiced when the Vatican agreed, declaring that capybara isn't
meat. More than two centuries later, they still consider the 130-pound
capybara a delicacy and pay big bucks to put it on their dinner
tables.
"It's the most scrumptious dish that exists,"
says Freddy Colina, 17, who lives on the southern Great Plains of
Venezuela, where a Lent without capybara is like Thanksgiving
without turkey in the United States.
Venezuelans think the rest of the world doesn't know
what it's missing. Some even want to export capybara, which they
call a red-meat lover's dream-come-true: Tender and tasty yet low
in fat. They envision people in New York and London eating
capybara steaks and capybara hotdogs.
"This is a great solution" for meat-eaters
worried about their cholesterol levels, says biologist Saul
Gutierrez, who helps raise the animals on Venezuela's most
prolific capybara ranch, El Cedral.
Capybara, which looks something like a pig with
reddish-brown fur, tastes like pork, too, although with a hint of
fishiness. Usually it's heavily salted and served as a shredded
meat alongside rice, plantains or spaghetti.
Among its fans is President Hugo Chavez, whose
mother says the former paratrooper couldn't get enough of it when
he was growing up.
Many Venezuelans are grateful the Roman Catholic
Church gave the animal the status of fish allowing its
consumption during Lent. But more than a few think the
classification is laughable.
"It doesn't even look like a fish. A capybara
has hair and four legs," says biologist Emilio Herrera,
although he acknowledges the creature does swim.
Capybara meat costs up to $4.50 a pound, a hefty
price for Venezuelan workers, many of whom make the minimum wage
of $200 a month.
The animal is found from Panama to Argentina and is
eaten in several countries. But no one craves it like Venezuelans,
mainly those in the southern and central parts of the nation
where the animal thrives in grasslands and swamps.
They contend that eating capybara, which is a cousin
of the guinea pig, shouldn't make people squeamish.
Capybaras are surprisingly clean despite an unsavory
habit or two.Wallowing in mud much of the day helps kill off
ticks and fleas, and then the capybaras wash off in clean pond
water. Yellow-headed caracara birds spend hours each day picking
the bugs off the capybaras' fur and skin, too.
True, capybaras eat their own feces, but so do other
animals such as wild rabbits, says Rexford Lord, a capybara
expert at Pennsylvania's Indiana University.
Unlike rats, capybaras are picky about what they eat,
mainly grass. They have just 1.5 percent fat content in their
meat, compared with up to 20 percent for cows.
Capybaras used to be one of the most common animals
in the Great Plains. But many were killed by the Spanish
conquistadors, who introduced cows which compete with capybaras
for land.
Then a government conservation program that started
in the 1960s backfired when corrupt wildlife officials took
bribes and allowed overhunting, says Gutierrez, the biologist at
the El Cedral ranch. Today barely 100,000 capybaras are left in
Venezuela, though the animal is not considered endangered.
Private ranches such as El Cedral in Apure state are
trying to boost the population by keeping poachers off their
lands. They're succeeding and are even thinking about exporting
the animal, though few concrete steps have been taken.
They say capybaras are much more profitable to raise than cattle
since they produce more offspring, use less grazing pasture and
don't
need expensive medicines like cows, which are not native to Latin
America and often get sick.
Gutierrez acknowledges there will be huge image
problem in trying to sell foreigners on the world's largest
rodent as a meat source, but is confident it can be done.
"It's only a matter of marketing," he says.
If you want further information on farming capybaras, you can email Martin Alvarez, who is working on a dissertation on the subject in Argentina: malva2@sinectis.com.ar