# Do you consider cartilage edible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331 "2013-12-28T01:51:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/1 "2013-12-28T01:51:06Z")
The white stuff at the joints between chicken bones and on the nubs of ribs. Do you consider them to be something you would typically eat or non-edible parts of the bone? ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/2 "2013-12-28T01:58:21Z")
Hell no! Only in a survival situation. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/3 "2013-12-28T01:58:21Z")
My immune system thinks so, as it’s trying to eat said item. Rheumatoid arthritis. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/4 "2013-12-28T02:00:21Z")
Sure. Chicken cartilage is crunchy! And I always get the combination pho with the tripe and tendon, where the cartilage has cooked down into a soft, beefy gelatin. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/5 "2013-12-28T02:21:20Z")
There are several Asian dishes built around it. One in particular is a fave orite when I go for Dim Sum. Unfortunately, I can not recall any of their names. Another note on eating cartilage, although it is apparently great for your skin and hair, it packs a cholesterol punch… ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/6 "2013-12-28T02:21:37Z")
double post. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/7 "2013-12-28T02:24:49Z")
Depends on whether I can chew it up or not. Some isn’t cooked long enough, and if I can’t chew it easily I leave it on the plate. Some is soft enough, even a little chewy or crunchy but chewable, and that I’ll eat. Rib tips is one of my favorite things in this category, there’s usually very little left on my plate as I chew up the cartilage and eat it with the meat. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/8 "2013-12-28T02:39:44Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Depends on whether I can chew it up or not . . . Yep. Some bits are edible, and some bits ain’t. For instance, I eat almost the entire wing-tip piece of chicken wings. Heck, with fried chicken, some of the bones are small enough and fragile enough to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/9 "2013-12-28T02:58:48Z")
It’s definitely edible in the sense that you can eat it if you want…but I usually prefer not to. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/10 "2013-12-28T03:04:51Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > It’s definitely edible in the sense that you can eat it if you want…but I usually prefer not to. I can get behind this. If I happen to get a piece, I will go ahead and crunch through it, but I do not usually go out of my way to clean the carcass of cartilage. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/11 "2013-12-28T03:56:44Z")
I voted no, which reflects personal taste, instead of availability in restaurants. I remember the end of a week in China - we just got back to Beijing, and I was still recovering from food posioning. Since I wasn’t interested in dinner, my Cow-orker and traveling companion went to the Worlds Fanciest KFC - complete with candelabras on the tables - in the basement level of our hotel. He ended up buying a bucket of breaded cartridge. He tried several pieces, and decided it wasn’t edible. I obviously agreed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/12 "2013-12-28T04:42:30Z")
Absolutely. Especially pig ears. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/13 "2013-12-28T23:13:53Z")
No. I also don’t think tendons and fat are edible. I like meat but eating it involves too much work when I have to remove all the icky textured parts I don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/14 "2013-12-29T01:06:34Z")
No. It’s called gristle. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/15 "2013-12-29T03:16:43Z")
It’s not inedible in the sense of hurting you if you ate it. But the same thing could be said for cotton balls. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/16 "2013-12-29T04:36:26Z")
Edible in the sense that it’s non-toxic and would probably be food-like enough in a survival situation, but I go out of my way to avoid the stuff under normal circumstances. This thrills my pet rats, who get the cartilage joint caps every time I get roast chicken. They can gnaw though anything, so all they care about is that it tastes like Mommy’s dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/17 "2013-12-29T05:15:24Z")
Not just no, hell no. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/18 "2013-12-29T05:47:33Z")
Sure. ---
**Author:** ![scuro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@scuro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scuro)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/19 "2013-12-29T05:49:45Z")
Perhaps I wouldn’t care for chicken cartilage, but it IS edible. Try beef shank cooked long and slow. Delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331/20 "2013-12-29T05:52:50Z")
I bet it would be delicious prepared like chicharrones. I like deep fried shrimp heads, which taste like Fritos corn chips. I’ll bet cartilage would be similar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-cartilage-edible/677331.md?page=2)