Tag: blood

Growing Up As A Med Sang

Alexia2 Comments

Trigger Warning: This piece contains themes such as self-harm and suicide.

I recently wrote about the lessons I would teach myself as a young sanguivore. After writing that, I wanted to delve a little into what I experienced growing up and sharing my personal story. I felt this would be better served as its own article.

I came across the Vampire Community when I was young. The years all seem to blend together, but I believe I was around 12-13 at the time. I first started to experience blood-thirst around the age of 12. It was around the time of a pretty traumatic event in my life where I was being stalked and harassed by an older man who made me genuinely fear for my life and look over my shoulder at all times. This situation eventually resolved itself, and to this day, I have no idea if it was some sort of ‘trigger’. What followed was far more long-lasting and terrifying for me.

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Homemade Anticoagulants: Preparation guide (Trisodium Citrate and ACD)

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by Lethenteron and DerMeister


If you order your blood from a butcher, there’s a very good chance that your blood has already been treated with anticoagulants, or that is has been defibrinated. Don’t hesitate to ask your provider for details. However, If you come and collect it yourself, (at a farm, at the slaughterhouse, or from your own livestock etc.), you may need to treat the blood yourself, either by vigorous stirring (traditional method) to defibrinate the blood or via the addition of anticoagulants.

Contrary to tradition, vinegar and salt are not very good options to preserve blood, and definitely not for raw consumption. It significantly alters the taste, and it is the stirring that is usually performed alongside that helps remove the fibrin and leaves the blood fluid. Keep in mind that the consumption of raw blood involves very significant risks and it’s your responsibility if you decide to engage in it. Check out this post for some information about blood pathogens and safety guidelines.

Putting defibrination and salt/vinegar aside, anticoagulants are generally a much better option, but you might not have any available or you might not know how to use them: that’s where this post comes in.

We’ll be talking about two reasonably accessible and reliable options here: trisodium citrate and ACD.

Trisodium Citrate:

Trisodium citrate has the chemical formula of Na3C6H5O7. It is sometimes referred to simply as “sodium citrate”, though sodium citrate can refer to any of the three sodium salts of citric acid. It possesses a saline, mildly tart flavor. It is mildly basic and can be used along with citric acid to make biologically compatible buffers.[n1]

Sodium citrate is chiefly used as a food additive, usually for flavouring, to add tartness to various foods, among which various club soda, sausages, wine or as a preservative. It appears as E331 on the label. It is also used to alter the texture of certain foods, like ice cream, yogurt, jams and as an emulsifier.Read More »

Lessons From A Young Sanguivore

Alexia3 Comments

There has been a lot of talk lately regarding young sanguivores and the ethics of teaching them. All of the content on The Red Cellar is aimed at those over 18 years of age for numerous reasons. In saying that, the fact is that sanguivores most often realize what they need at a young age. Puberty is the most common time I hear of sanguivores realizing how they are. I myself had this happen to me first beginning around 12 years old, and I was active in the Sanguinarian Community for some time at the age of 14-15. I was not allowed in certain spaces and was asked to leave because of my age. I had no guidance when I desperately needed it, and this resulted in me making an attempt on my own life aged 15 and being targeted by an online predator 12 years my senior. Even after that, I didn’t have anyone teaching me. I had to learn my information from the ground up, and then I began to teach this to others; a habit which continues to this day, 15 years later.

I made a lot of mistakes. I’ve seen plenty of mistakes from other sanguivores I grew up with as well. If I could go back and teach my younger self, there are many lessons and pieces of advice that I would give them. I have decided to share these lessons here.

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Blood Handling & Safety

ossivorous_oose2 Comments

Lovely image provided by blood–stock.

Heated discussions, desperate queries, massive brain-imploding confusion about blood safety pop up quite regularly in sang friendly spaces. Unfortunately, while there are some excellent, albeit brief mentions out there regarding the topic, nothing really attempts to do more than vaguely address the subject. Information is divided, curtailed, and often painful to follow through various spaces and mediums. In forums & channels, for example, guidance can be wildly mixed in accuracy, even intention. There’s a lot of improper advice given that, if put into practice, could possibly make people ill. The bottom line is this: if you’re a sang, you’re likely ingesting blood; not only that, but in a raw state. When it comes to health and safety, I had hoped that sound attempts at reducing the risk of potential pathogens would be kept alongside proper food management techniques. They are not.

In this article, I will be focusing on information regarding the safety of handling blood that has already been collected from a source and treated. Due to the degree of pertinence, therefore, animal blood will be used as the prime example here. If you’re collecting the blood yourself and it has not been treated, here is an amazing article detailing the process. If you’re more curious about human blood, you may look here or there to start. Consuming raw blood comes with inherent risks that are made more complicated with mishandling. Difficulties in sourcing blood to begin with can also pose a problem. The ease of obtaining animal blood and its quality depend greatly on your location, unfortunately – or fortunately, if you’re a lucky bastard. In areas where people are not far removed from their food sources, blood is much easier to obtain. Lack of demand and cultural aversion in other places can make acquisition quite difficult. It’s worth noting that animal blood is illegal in some countries, so save yourself the added grief by doing some research on the subject before beginning your fervent quest.

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blood pancakes

Buttermilk Blood Pancakes (sweet)

lamprey_kitchen2 Comments

First in a series of blood pancakes recipes. Next up will be Veriletut, savoury Finnish pancakes, with beer, buckwheat and blood as the main ingredients, followed by a chocolaty, gluten-free, protein-packed version with cocoa (with blood, of course).

This is a version of the classic buttermilk pancake including pig’s blood. They are extremely easy to put together and delicious. As I was in a hurry, mine came out a bit denser than usual, but don’t fret, you can get them pretty fluffy. Ideal for a Sunday morning breakfast or a nice afternoon snack.

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Homemade Hematogen – Russian blood protein bar

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“Hematogen (Russian: Гематоген, Gematogen; Latin: Haematogenum) is a nutrition bar, which is notable in that one of its main ingredients is black food albumin taken from processed (defibrinated) cow’s blood. Other ingredients may vary, but they usually contain sugar, milk and vanillin.” (courtesy of Wikipedia)

I had come across Hematogen bars online a couple of times, (see this Chowhound’s article.) and the idea of blood protein bars sounded pretty appealing.  Read More »

Terrine de Boudin Noir (Black sausage terrine)

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This is a wonderful recipe I came across on Gourmantissimes, while trying to find ways to improve on the Blood Terrine recipe.

It is quite different in that it does not use raw blood as a base, but blood sausage stuffing, or blood pudding. (that you purchased or made yourself, we’ll be posting a recipe for blood sausage soon.)

In any case, this was quite a find. This  terrine is wonderfully creamy, while firm, and packed full of flavor. It makes a wonderful breakfast or a lovely appetizer.

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When Sanguinarianism Is A Chore

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So, this is going to differ a little from the usual angle of sanguinarian self-empowerment because I think it’s important to be real about our struggles and share relatable experiences.

We need to ‘feed’. We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to be the best we can be. It doesn’t impact only us in isolation if we do not. That said, it can be draining and exhausting to keep up with. This is especially the case with heavy feeders because it requires that much more upkeep.

When someone is new to sanguinarianism, particularly if it began in adulthood, some can adopt the ‘uber predator’ mindset and find ‘the hunt’ exhilarating. This isn’t a problem at all, but it can be when those individuals condescend or look down on those who’ve been dealing with this for a very long time and have grown weary of it.

To me, this isn’t new and shiny. I’ve been dealing with it for my entire teenage and adult life. Being a sanguivore to me is an identity only insofar as it has shaped my life as I’ve grown, and with the perspective and experience it has given me. I don’t invest much thought or time into it; only my work with TRC and my passion for providing support and content for sangs. My life priorities are quite different than the sanguinarian community or an identity as a sanguivore.

When it’s for the purpose of maintaining health and you’ve had to do it for decades, collecting blood can become quite a chore. When you need to collect a lot of vials or need multiple donors, this can be even more so. Like a vitamin or medicine that you must go through hassle to get every time. Some can get by on animal blood, but those like me who are allergic to it cannot. That’s not to say blood can’t be exciting, passionate or intimate; but that does depend on circumstances and context, and is not the reason why blood is ingested for the vast majority of the time. It is for health maintenance.

I grow tired of the hunger. This thing can be exhausting. Yet I know this too shall pass. There is no point dwelling on an inevitable part of my condition. I don’t even know if I’d change it if I could because it’s shaped me in so many fundamental ways. It’s introduced me to some wonderful people.

A lot of people turn to me for advice on dealing with being a sang, and honestly it’s so much easier to deal with when you have experience and you’ve gotten used to it. However, I have days where I get fed up with it too. There’s nothing wrong with having moments when you just feel exhausted by it and we all have them now and then. This isn’t always an easy path to walk, and by sharing some of my experiences, I hope you realise you’re not alone when you have frustrations. As always, TRC is here to provide the community and support you need in both your dark moments and the good times.

– A