The worm is boiled alive during this stage before the silk is removed. If it were allowed to grow and emerge from the cocoon, it would break the cocoon in the process, making it less valuable for silk production (and useless for high quality cloth or garments). The silk itself can also be loosened by soaking the cocoon in water which will free up the “gum”. Labourers use a brush to push the cocoon up and down until one of the loose end is free.
Each silkworm cocoon is made of a single fibre about 3600 feet long. Since the thread is too fine for commercial use, between 3 and 10 strands then have to be reeled together to produce the desired diameter of raw silk. This is known as “reeled silk.” It will take some 7 to 8,000 cocoons to make just 1kg of this type of silk.
We sell cocoons in wet or dry format
All available in bulk. Prices available on application
