Cricket Flour: The New Rave for Diet and Exercise

  Posted on July 27, 2015  by insectrecipes  No comments

If you’re visiting this site, we can probably assume that you have some interest in testing some buggy concoctions. Cricket flour is usually the first insect food many people are willing to try: it doesn’t look like bugs, it doesn’t taste like bugs (most describe it as having a nutty flavor), and you can easily mix it into your favorite stew or any baked good. While these factors certainly make them more appealing to people interested in trying something new in their diet, a whole other group of people have started to rave about it for completely different reasons. Surprisingly enough; body builders, dieters and health nuts are finding that cricket flour is outperforming their traditional healthy food choices in a variety of ways.

Body Building and Workout Fiends

If you know anybody who likes to pump iron or run extreme ultra-marathons, you know they are always looking for ways to add more protein to their diet. Not only is it essential for building muscle mass, but protein gives an extra boost to get someone through a grueling workout routine. As many startup cricket farmers have begun to realize, cricket flour is a powerful alternative to the traditional protein bars and powders popular among body builders today. For example, crickets contain 12.9 grams of protein per 100 grams, whereas one egg contains only 7 grams. Cricket flour can be as much as 70% protein by dry weight, whereas a sirloin steak is only 29%, and chicken is only 31%. On top of the higher protein content, they’re also incredibly nutritious, with considerable calcium, iron, potassium and B vitamins.

The traditional protein powders used to make super protein shakes by body builders and athletes are also much higher in protein than meat sources. However, if you’re looking for more bang for your buck in terms of protein content per pound, cricket flour far outstrips alternatives like whey and soy.  Check out Exo’s protein bars if you’re ready to turn heads at the gym.

Benefits for Dieters

People interested in losing weight without giving up every single thing that tastes good are also experimenting with cricket flour. The bugs carry a lot of benefits for dieters because they have no sugar, are quite low in carbohydrates and are high in omega-3 fatty acids (termed the good, healthy fat).

Cricket flour can also be used to partially replace less healthy ingredients in many of the family’s favorite dishes. This is a saving grace for parents looking for a way to eat healthier but also feed everyone the same meal. It’s also a great way to pump up your children’s nutrition without throwing a steak on the table. Cricket flour also has 15% more iron than spinach. Baked into a cookie, the flour will likely be more appetizing to kids than eating their greens.

Cricket flour has become popular among Paleo Dieters in particular, but not only for their low fat and high nutrition. If you’re new to the Paleo Diet, then you don’t know that it consists only of foods that were eaten by our modern ancestors—the foods that we evolved to eat. The fibrous exoskeletons of crickets are made of chitin, which is completely digestible by humans. This suggests that insects were a big part of our diet during our natural past, which means cricket flour is Paleo kosher!

Products and Taste

Maybe you’re a body builder, dieter, or health-conscious eater. Maybe you want to be. So where exactly can you get the goods?

At the moment, Exo is the biggest kid on the playground in terms of cricket flour-based products. The company was founded by two college students who found that CrossFit body builders had interest in the bars. They offer cacao and peanut butter and jelly protein bars, almond and dried fruit bends, and other flavors. The bars have between 270 and 300 calories, and each contains roughly 40 crickets.

Bitty Foods is another producer of cricket flour products, and they even sell pre-made blends of cricket flour and gluten-free starches for your baking needs. They’re also known for their cricket flour cookies, with flavors such as coconut, chocolate chip, chocolate cardamom, and orange ginger.

Chapul also sells snack bars with some pretty unique flavor blends, such the Aztec Bar (dark chocolate, coffee and cayenne), Chaco Bar (peanut butter and chocolate), and Thai Bar (coconut, ginger and lime). They’re really trying to cater their products to different dieting strategies, and have even agreed to develop a bar specifically for the Whole30 diet.