It was on this date in 1931 that the Floridian Products Corporation made its first sale of canned rattlesnake. The company’s founder and chief “wrangler” was George Kenneth End; a Columbia journalism graduate unable to find a job, he and his family moved to Arcadia, Florida (near Tampa) to make a living at farming. But as End put it, “the rattlesnakes were more prolific than the crops I planted.” First he tanned them; then he tasted them. Surprised to find them palatable, he wrote to the The Tampa Tribune about the delicacy -- and received a stream of requests.
End made a business of supplying adventurous restaurateurs and gourmets until 1944, when he died of a rattlesnake bite.
Be sure to visit Lawrence's (Roughly) Daily website!