Going Buggy: Cooking up a World of Insects at Home

Going Buggy: Cooking up a World of Insects at Home

 

Will 2015 be the year that edible insects enter the mainstream? Insects provide an ethical, source of protein to vegetarians and people concerned with factory farming. They provide a green, homegrown alternative to families who want to limit their carbon footprints.  Still, entomophagy won’t realty catch on until people move beyond the image of grimacing contestants downing bugs on reality TV shows.

If you want to convince your friends and neighbors to give insects a try, you have to be able to answer three big questions: How do they taste? How do you cook them? Where can I find them?

 

Eating Local, Cooking Globally

Like most foods, insects taste best when they’re eaten fresh, soon after harvesting.  Insects that are native to the United States or which are easy to raise at home can provide delicious meals full of protein and healthy fats. You just need to know where to find them, how to raise them, and how to cook them.

 

A Great First Insect Meal

Any reptile owner will tell you that it’s easy to breed mealworms. These beetle larvae are happiest in tubs of grain. They’re a natural pest in silos and grain storage bins, but a delicious treat in the kitchen.  Small mealworms taste like flaxseed when they’re fried, but also take on the flavor of the cooking oil.

Some cooks and scientists suggest using mealworms in meatballs to create a 50/50 beef and insect combination. The finished meatballs have a healthier fat profile and a lower carbon footprint than 100% beef meatballs. You can serve the finished meatballs with your favorite spaghetti sauce.

Other cooks toast the mealworms and then cover them in chocolate for a sweet, nutty, crunchy treat. Finally, some aficionados stir fry them, salt them and use them as croutons on salad or as garnish for soups.

Because they’re so versatile and easy to breed, you can add mealworms to almost any recipe. Try them in a curry to increase your protein intake.

 

Crickets on the Hearth

People have domesticated crickets for thousands of years. While these tiny creatures are famous for their songs, they can also be an excellent protein source.

Crickets taste like whatever they’ve eaten in the days before they’re harvested. If you feed your crickets garbage, they’ll taste like garbage. If you feed them a specific fruit or vegetable, they’ll pick up that flavor.  Try feeding your crickets apples for a sweet, fresh taste that goes great with chocolate or with salt. Remove the legs before you fry them. In a curry or a stir fry, they’ll add hints of shrimp or nuts.

You Say “Tomato,” I say “Tomato Horn Worm.”

If you’re an avid gardener, you probably cringe when you find a hornworm on your tomatoes.  However, this is one pest that belongs in a pan. Like many insects, tomato hornworms taste like whatever they’ve been eating. That means that if you find one on your plant, he’ll taste like green tomatoes, but with protein.   Fry these caterpillars up with green tomatoes and seasoning, and you’ll have a delicious summer treat.

Flying Shrimp

Do you live in an area with wetlands? If you do, you’re probably familiar with dragonflies.  Dragonflies are native to every continent except Antarctica and eaten around the world. Dragonflies taste like shrimp, and you can grill or roast them. Remove the wings before cooking, and then add them to gumbo, curry, or salads for protein and taste.

 

A Feast Every 17 Years

Most years, it’s hard to catch a cicada. You may hear them singing in the trees on a summer’s afternoon, but they’re not worth hunting down for a meal. However, if your area is having a big year for cicadas, you may want to try to catch them and fry them.  Get them when they’ve just emerged, before their shells have hardened. If you batter them and fry them, they’ll taste like lobster tail. Native Americans also ate them raw.  They’re a tasty summer treat, and worth waiting 17 years for.

 

 

Where the June Bugs Zoom

Beetles are incredibly nutritious, but their tough shells can make them a difficult meal. Clever insect-eaters have devised a way to eat June bugs.  Heat a tablespoon of oil in a stovetop popcorn popper. Add June bugs, and they’ll pop just like popcorn. Chefs describe them as tasting like butter and nuts. Sprinkle the popped bugs with parmesan cheese for a warm, crunchy snack. The legs are edible, but not worth the effort, so take them off before you eat the bugs.

Eating Your Veggies

If you eat fresh or frozen produce, you’re already eating aphids. Avid gardeners recommend soaking aphid-infested greens in salt water to remove the garden pests before eating. However, the bugs don’t have a strong taste, and they’re a good source of protein. Instead of soaking, try freshly ground black pepper. The spice will mask the mild, nutty flavor of aphids, but let you enjoy the extra nutrition they’ll provide to your salad.

Eat Like a Saint

John the Baptist ate them in the desert. Romans feasted on them. Native Americans enjoyed them. Grasshoppers are an age-old source of protein.  Like many plant-eating insects, grasshoppers taste like a combination of shrimp and whatever they’ve been eating. Mexican grasshoppers collected in cornfields taste like corn. Your typical backyard hopper tastes like the plants in your backyard.  To cook grasshoppers, stir fry them with garlic, lime or lemon juice, and hot peppers. You’ll have a crunchy, flavorful treat. If you don’t like the first hoppers you taste, try others from a different location with a different diet.

 

Lard of the Flies

What did depression-era Americans do when their potatoes were infested with maggots? They collected the maggots and spread them on bread as a lard or butter substitute. Then they cooked and ate the potatoes.  Maggots are fatty and buttery, and they take on the flavor of their food. To raise maggots in your own home, use fruit or potatoes. Eat them uncooked or pan fried. Fried maggots take on the flavor of the oil they’re fried in, so try olive oil or sesame oil if you plan on using them as a spread for bread or crackers.

Homegrown, but not very tasty…

Image Source: Gary Alpert on Wikimedia Commons.

Residents of the Southern US may be familiar with the American Cockroach. Unlike its relative, the German cockroach, this bug is large enough to eat and has a helping of healthy nutrients. In fact, businessmen in China are trying to raise these roaches as a snack food. However, unless you’re stuck in a post-apocalyptic starvation situation, you probably don’t want to eat these familiar insects. Taste-testers report that the roaches have scent glands which give them an unpleasant, musky flavor. With so many tastier bugs available domestically, you should give the American Cockroach a pass.

 

Exotic Delicacies

While local and homegrown insects are great dietary staples, some especially tasty bugs can only be found abroad. Whether you’re traveling in another country or simply perusing the shelves at your local Asian or Mexican grocery store, here are a few bugs that you need to taste-test.

 

Make it Your Beeswax

You are what you eat, especially if you’re a wax worm. These ‘worms’ are actually caterpillars, the larval stage of the waxwing moth. They infest bee hives and feed on the wax and honey.  When you fry them, they have a light, potato like taste with a hint of honey. You can use them to add sweetness to a salad, or to make a sauce for a dessert. However, many wax worm aficionados prefer to eat them salted, as a sweet yet salty snack food.  Researchers in Europe have also developed a recipe for a thick, creamy sauce made from wax worms. Serve it with mild seafood like scallops and pair it with a white wine for a fancy meal.

 

An African Delicacy

The Mopane worm is an African delicacy. When fresh, these large caterpillars taste like prawns. Women cook them in a stew with potatoes, tomatoes, spices, garlic, and coconut milk.  You can also purchase freeze-dried mopane online. People also eat them grilled, roasted, and deep fried. If you’re in Africa, try to find them when they’re freshly harvested. As they age, the caterpillars develop a ‘dead leaves’ taste.

 

An Aztec Treat

Water flies in the family Corixidae (also known as Water Boatman) lay their eggs on plants at the edge of ponds and lakes. In Mexico, these eggs are collected and used as a dip or spread. They have a mild shrimp flavor, much like a shrimp salad.  The spread, ahuahutle, is sometimes called ‘Aztec Caviar’ and can be used as an appetizer.

 

 

A Giant in the World of Bugs

Thai Giant Water Bugs are a favorite food throughout Thailand.  Roasted or boiled, you can remove the meat and add it to sauces. To eat a deep fried water bug, remove the wings. Then break the head off the body. Scoop the meat out of the body, then eat the meat inside the head. The meat has the texture of scrambled eggs and tastes like scallops.  Deep fried Water bugs are available at some Asian markets.  Add them to nam prig for an authentic country-style Thai recipe.

Which Witch Witchetty

Australia’s favorite insect dish is the Witchetty Grub, the wood-eating larva of a moth.  If you eat it raw, it tastes like almonds. However, Australians also roast them, pan-fry them with fish, grill them on skewers and eat them in a creamy onion and pepper soup.

While the caterpillars are delicious, they’re also difficult to farm. In the wild, they can take up to 3 years to reach their full size, and they’re susceptible to bad weather.  Australian scientists are working to find ways to raise these delicious insects in a controlled environment so that they can supply them to restaurants and exporters.

Termite Trouble

Termites live on every continent. In the US, there’s a good chance that they’ve been exposed to insecticides, so there’s a good reason not to eat them. In other countries, they take on the flavor of the plants that they’ve been eating. Depending on where you harvest them, termites can taste like pineapples, mint, or fresh vegetables. Fry them in butter with curry powder, and you have a sweet and spicy treat that gives you powerful proteins and fats instead of calorie-laden carbs.

 

More Expensive than Steak

Bamboo worms are another Thai delicacy. They’re also expensive. In the cities, they can cost as much as $8.00 a pound, proof that insects aren’t just a poor man’s food.   When they’re deep fried and salted, the worms taste like potato chips. You can buy preserved worms in the US.  If you’re hosting a party for paleo or Atkins dieters, these worms might be the perfect snack food.

 

 

Ant Eaters

Escamoles are ants native to Mexico and the American Southwest.  You can harvest the larvae, sautee them in butter, and then use them as a rice or pasta substitute in many dishes. Some chefs serve escamoles on their own, paired with a white wine, because of their delicate, buttery flavor.  While delicious, escamoles are becoming rare. They’re difficult to harvest and young people are unwilling to learn the trade.

Smooth as Silk

What do silk producers do with the silkworm larva after they’ve extracted the silk from its cocoon? In some parts of china, people deep fry and eat the remaining worm. This is a brilliant way to reduce waste and to add low-cost protein to your diet. However, there are a few problems with eating silkworms.

The silkworms sold in the US come in cans. They tend to take on the flavor of the can. Some adventurous eaters report that canned silkworms taste like old gym socks.

Fresh silkworms in China receive better reviews. They have the texture of tofu, and they don’t taste bad when you dip them in sesame sauce. However, they still smell like burnt hair, and leave a lingering aftertaste.  While fried silkworm represents a triumph of thrift and culinary ingenuity, you probably don’t want to go out of your way to add it to your diet.