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| How to Obtain Edible Insects |
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By far the most difficult part of attempting any insect recipe is
acquiring the necessary ingredients. Insects are rarely sold in
supermarkets, nor, aside from various novelty items, are there many
pre prepared insect food products. Therefore, those who wish to eat
insects must acquire them either by catching insects in the wild, by
buying insects from pet stores or bait shops, or by raising their
own.
Catching insects in the wild, unless you're fortunate
enough to live in a rural area, is a laborious and potentially
dangerous task. I advise this type of insect collection only if
you're sure that the insects you're collecting are edible
(doyous...), and that the area where you're collecting is free of
pesticides. Cicadas, field crickets, grasshoppers, grubs, tomato
hornworms, and so forth, are among the edible insects one is likely
to find on such hunting expeditions.
Buying insects is the easiest way to get edible insects,
but it is also the most expensive (ain't it always the way?). Most
pet stores and bait shops carry crickets and mealworms, two of the
most easily raised and prepared insect species. You can also buy
these insects in bulk from various insect suppliers (see my Links, Etc. page for
more information on the subject). The only preparation that you need
give to insects acquired in this manner is that of feeding them for
a few days on fresh grain; most insects you buy at bait shops or pet
stores have been eating newspaper, sawdust, or similarly unsavory
packing material, which, while completely harmless, might affect the
insect's taste if you ate them while the material was still in their
digestive tract.
Raising insects, in my opinion, is the optimum way of
ensuring a steady supply of palatable insects. While not entirely as
convenient as simply popping into the pet store whenever you need
insects, it is far cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and more
rewarding in the long run. See my page on Raising Insects
for all the juicy details. |
| How to Prepare Insects for Cooking
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Those who are accustomed to eating animals probably know that
most animals must be killed, cleaned, and cooked before one can eat
them. The case is similar with insects. While there are many people
in other countries who prefer to eat insects live and raw, and while
it is true that you could probably get the most nutrients that way,
I prefer food that won't crawl off my plate. I have tried eating
live ants and mealworms, and in fact present a "recipe" for live
insect consumption below; however, I would advise that beginning
insect eaters start with cooked insects.
To prepare a batch of crickets or mealworms:
Take the desired quantity of live insects, rinse them off and
then pat them dry. This procedure is easy to do with mealworms, but
fairly hard to do with crickets. To do so with crickets, pour them
all into a colander and cover it quickly with a piece of wire
screening or cheesecloth. Rinse them, then dry them by shaking the
colander until all the water drains. Then put the crickets or
mealworms in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer until they
are dead but not frozen. Fifteen minutes or so should be sufficient.
Then take them out and rinse them again. You don't really have to
clean mealworms, though if you want, you can chop off their heads.
Cricket's heads, hind legs, and wing cases can be removed according
to personal preference; I like doing so, since cricket legs tend to
get stuck in your teeth. You are now ready to use the insects in all
kinds of culinary treats! |
| Mealworm Chocolate Chip Cookies
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- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup mealworm flour
Cream butter well, then mix in sugar, egg, vanilla flour, salt,
baking soda, chocolate chips, oats, and mealworm flour. Drop batter
by the teaspoonful on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at
375 degrees farenheit. This recipe doesn't have much in the way of
palpable insect content, but is an excellent way to introduce others
(or yourself!) to entomophagy. Even many rather squeamish people
will try mealworm cookies, since the cookie format doesn't look
"gross" to most people, and since it is rather difficult to actually
taste the mealworms, though they enrich the cookie with a somewhat
nutty flavor and extra protein.
To make insect flour:
Spread your cleaned insects out on a lightly greased cookie
sheet. Set your oven 200 degrees and dry insects for approximately
1-3 hours. When the insects are done, they should be fairly brittle
and crush easily. Take your dried insects and put them into a
blender or coffee grinder, and grind them till they are about
consistency of wheat germ. Use in practically any recipe! Try
sprinkling insect flour on salads, add it to soups, your favorite
bread recipe, on a boat, with a goat, etc. |
| Chocolate Covered Crickets |
- 25 adult crickets
- Several squares of semisweet chocolate
Prepare the crickets as described above. Bake at 250 degrees
until crunchy (the time needed varies from oven to oven). Heat the
squares of semi sweet chocolate in a double boiler until melted. Dip
the dry roasted crickets in the melted chocolate one by one, and
then set the chocolate covered crickets out to dry on a piece of wax
paper. Enjoy! This is a little time consuming to make, but
definitely worth it...the crickets are deliciously
crunchy! |
| Ant Brood Tacos |
- 2 tablespoons butter or peanut oil?
- 1/2 pound ant larvae and pupae
- 3 serrano chilies, raw, finely chopped
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- Pepper, to taste
- Cumin, to taste
- Oregano, to taste
- 1 handful cilantro, chopped
- Taco shells, to serve
Heat the butter or oil in a frying pan and fry the larvae or
pupae. Add the chopped onions, chilies, and tomato, and season with
salt. Sprinkle with ground pepper, cumin, and oregano, to taste.
Serve in tacos and garnish with cilantro. (Not living in an area
exceptionally prolific with ants, I have never been able to try this
recipe. But it sounds perfectly delicious! I found it in 'Creepy
Crawly Cuisine', an excellent recipe book.) |
| "Natural Style" |
- As many mealworms as you can sanely eat
Open mouth. Insert live mealworms. Chew. Swallow.
You can eat almost every kind of edible insect raw; however, this
method of eating insects should only be performed on insects that
you keep yourself or know are free from pesticides. Do not snag
passing cockroaches, ants, or termites in an urban area unless you
have developed a natural immunity to pesticides. And don't forget to
wash your insects before eating
them! | |
