Insect dishes are considered a real delicacy in Asian cuisine. If you are tired of traditional food, try the most popular culinary dishes made from insects: deep-fried bugs, cheese with fly larvae, boiled wasps, fried ants, grasshoppers with avocado and other culinary masterpieces made from insects.
Man is born an omnivore, but few are willing to take this to heart and eat, for example, bedbugs or crickets. Meanwhile, insects are eaten everywhere to the globe: they contain more protein than chicken meat, full of iron, magnesium and others important elements Finally, it's simply delicious.
In total, there are 1,462 species of edible insects in the world, and it is unlikely that you can try all of them in a lifetime. True, thanks to the Internet, in order to eat this or that insect, it is no longer necessary to go to Thailand, Uganda or New Guinea: There are more and more companies that sell insects online. A partial list of such companies is provided on the Insects Are Food website.
Fried bamboo worms
Where: Thailand, China, Latin America
For Thais, a plate of fried bamboo worms is the same traditional way start a meal like a salad or soup for Europeans. Their taste and texture are a little reminiscent of popcorn, although they do not have any special pronounced taste, but they are very nutritious.
In fact, these are not worms at all, but larvae of grass moths from the grass moth family (Crambidae), living in bamboo. Traditionally they are harvested by cutting bamboo stalks, but more recently they have been grown commercially on farms and packaged in bags like chips. Bizarre Food products can, for example, be bought in England. In addition to Thailand, bamboo worms are eaten with pleasure in China and in the Amazon River basin.
Shish kebab from longhorned beetle larvae
Where: Eastern Indonesia
Longhorned beetles, large and shiny beetles with long antennae, are distributed throughout the world, and there are many of them in Russia. In our country they are also called woodcutter beetles, in the English-speaking world - capricorn beetles.
Longhorned beetle larvae, found in the roots of sago palms, are a very popular village food in Eastern Indonesia. For the sake of fatty and juicy larvae, Indonesians sometimes cut down small palm groves, and then, carefully stringing them onto twigs, roast the larvae over the fire. They have tender flesh, but a very dense skin that takes a long time to chew. The maggots taste like greasy bacon.
The larvae have another use: villagers use them as ear brushes - a live larva is inserted into the ear, held by the tail with your fingers, and it quickly eats away the ear wax.
Cheese with cheese fly larvae
Where: Sardinia
This cheese is proof that insects are eaten not only in Africa and Asia. Casu marzu is an important Sardinian specialty: cheese made from unpasteurized goat's milk with live larvae of the cheese fly Piophila casei. For most cheese lovers, casu marzu is not just mature cheese or blue cheese, but completely rotten cheese with worms. Strictly speaking, this is how it is: this is ordinary pecorino, from which it is cut upper layer so that the cheese fly can easily lay its eggs in it. The larvae that then appear begin to eat the cheese from the inside - the acid contained in their digestive system, decomposes fats in cheese and gives it a specific softness. Some of the liquid even flows out - it is called lágrima, which means “tear”.
In Sardinia, casu marzu is considered an aphrodisiac and is traditionally eaten along with worms. Moreover, casu marzu is considered safe to eat only while the larvae are alive. This is not easy to do: disturbed larvae, reaching a centimeter in length, can jump out of the cheese to a height of 15 cm - many cases have been described when they got into the eye of someone who tried the cheese. Therefore, lovers of casu marzu often eat this cheese with glasses or, spreading it on bread, cover the sandwich with their hand. However, removing larvae from cheese is not considered a crime. The easiest way is to stick a piece of cheese or a sandwich into paper bag and close it tightly: the suffocating larvae begin to jump out. When the shooting in the bag stops, the cheese can be eaten.
Of course, casu marzu does not meet any hygienic standards of the European Union for a long time was banned (it could only be bought on the black market at a price twice the price of regular pecorino). But in 2010, the casu marzu was recognized as a cultural property of Sardinia and allowed again.
Dried mopane caterpillars with onions
Where: South Africa
Dried caterpillars of Gonimbrasia belina, a South African species of mopane moth, are an important source of protein for South Africans. Collecting these caterpillars in Africa is quite a serious business: in supermarkets and markets you can find both dried and hand-smoked caterpillars and pickled caterpillars rolled into tins.
To cook a caterpillar, you first need to squeeze out its green intestines (usually the caterpillars are simply squeezed in your hand, less often they are cut lengthwise, like a pea pod), and then boiled in salted water and dried. Sun-dried or smoked caterpillars are very nutritious, weigh almost nothing and have a long shelf life, but do not have much flavor (they are most often compared to dried tofu or even dry wood). Therefore, they are usually fried until crunchy along with onions, added to stews, stewed in various sauces, or served with sadza corn porridge.
However, very often mopane are eaten raw, whole or, as in Botswana, after tearing off the head. They taste like tea leaves. Caterpillars are collected by hand, usually done by women and children. And if they belong to anyone in the forest, then collecting caterpillars on neighboring trees is considered bad manners. In Zimbabwe, women even mark trees with their caterpillars or move young caterpillars closer to home, setting up unique plantations.
Boiled wasps
Where: Japan
The older generation of Japanese still respects wasps and bees, prepared with the most different ways. One such dish is hatinoko, which is bee larvae boiled with soy sauce and sugar: a translucent, sweetish caramel-like mass that goes well with rice. Wasps are also prepared in the same way - a dish with them is called jibatinoko. For older Japanese people, this dish reminds them of the post-war years and the rationing system, when wasps and bees were especially actively eaten in Japan. It is in steady demand in Tokyo restaurants, even if only as a nostalgic attraction.
In general, hatinoko and jibatinoko are considered a rather rare specialty of Nagano Prefecture. Fried black wasps are a little more common and are sometimes served with beer in Japanese taverns. Another specialty, rice crackers with earthen wasps, is made in the village of Omachi. These are small cookies with adult wasps stuck to them - each one contains from 5 to 15 wasps.
Japanese dishes made from wild wasps and bees are not cheap: it is impossible to put this business on stream; the preparation itself is quite labor-intensive. Wasp and bee hunters tie long colored threads to adult wasps and thus track their nests. However, you can also find canned bees in Japanese stores - this is usually how beekeeping farms sell their surplus.
Silkworm fried with ginger
Where: China, Korea, Japan, Thailand
The city of Suzhou and its surroundings are famous not only for high-quality silk, but also for quite rare dishes made from silkworm pupae. As you know, silkworm caterpillars wrap themselves in a thin but strong silk thread. In the cocoon they grow wings, antennae and legs. Before this happens, Suzhou residents boil them, remove the cocoon, and then quickly fry them in a wok - most often with ginger, garlic and onions. However, tender larvae, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, go well with almost any vegetables and spices. When cooked correctly, they taste like crab or shrimp meat.
Silkworm larvae are no less popular in Korea. Trays of beondegi, boiled grubs with spices or steamed grubs, are found throughout the country. And stores sell canned silkworms, which must be boiled before use. They are also loved in Japan, especially in Nagato, and Japanese astrophysicist Masamichi Yamashita even suggests including silkworms in the diet of future Mars colonists.
Fried ants
Where: Mexico, Colombia, Australia, South Africa
Ants are the most popular edible insects on Earth after grasshoppers. In Colombia, fried ants are even sold in movie theaters instead of popcorn. The ones most loved in Colombia are female ants with eggs. They are caught on rainy days, when water floods the anthills and the females climb out. In the simplest rustic version, they are prepared by wrapping them in leaves and holding them over the fire for a while. This is a crunchy, sweetish snack with a distinct nutty flavor.
But the most delicious ants, the so-called “honey” ants, are found in Australia. They feed on sweet nectar, transporting it in swollen abdomen (in Russian-language literature they are called “ant barrels”). These transparent bubbles are considered a sweet delicacy among the Australian Aborigines. In addition, two genera of honey ants are found in South Africa and the semi-deserts of North America.
Deep fried water bugs
Where: Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines
Large water bugs - insects from the family Belostomatidae - live throughout the world, most of them in America, Canada and Southeast Asia. But while for Americans these are just large insects whose bites sometimes last for two weeks, in Asia they happily eat water bugs.
The Asian variety, Lethocerus indicus, is the largest in the family at 12cm in length, so the Thais simply deep-fry them and serve them with plum sauce. The meat of water bugs tastes like shrimp. At the same time, in Thailand they are eaten whole; in the Philippines, the legs and wings are torn off (and served in this form). strong drinks as a snack), and in Vietnam they make a very fragrant extract from them, which is added to soups and sauces. One drop is enough for a bowl of soup.
Grasshoppers with avocado
Where: Mexico
As you know, John the Baptist even ate grasshoppers: the locusts, which he ate with wild honey, are locusts, a close relative of the grasshopper. It could be understood by Mexicans, for whom grasshoppers are practically a national food. Grasshoppers are eaten everywhere in Mexico: boiled, raw, sun-dried, fried, soaked in lime juice. The most popular dish is grasshopper guacamole: the insects are quickly fried, causing them to instantly change color from green to reddish, mixed with avocado and spread on a corn tortilla.
Like any small fried insect, fried grasshopper does not have a prominent flavor and usually tastes like the oil and spices in which it was fried. The grasshoppers sold by street vendors in Southeast Asia are simply overcooked chitinous shells. In general, grasshoppers are eaten wherever insects are eaten. Grasshoppers boiled in salt water and dried in the sun are eaten in the Middle East, in China they are skewered like kebabs, and in Uganda and nearby regions they are added to soups. It is curious that in Uganda, until recently, women were not allowed to eat grasshoppers - it was believed that then they would give birth to children with deformed heads, like grasshoppers.
Dragonflies in coconut milk
Where: Bali
Dragonflies can reach speeds of up to 60 km/h, so edible dragonflies are real fast food. They are caught and eaten in Bali: it is not easy to catch a dragonfly, for this they use sticks smeared with sticky tree sap. The main difficulty is to touch the dragonfly with this stick in a smooth and at the same time fast movement.
Caught large dragonflies, whose wings are first torn off, are either quickly grilled or boiled in coconut milk with ginger and garlic. Dragonflies are also used to make a kind of candy by frying them in coconut oil and sprinkling with sugar.
Bedbugs with chicken pate
Where: Mexico
Grass bugs - in particular, from the family of true stink bugs (Pentatomidae) - are also eaten throughout the world. Like most bugs, stink bugs are stinky. To get rid of the unpleasant smell, in South Africa they are first soaked for a long time in warm water, and then they simply dry it and chew it.
On the contrary, the Mexican variety of stink bugs is valued for its strong, medicinal smell - probably due to its high iodine content. American TV presenter Andrew Zimmern, who ate stink bugs in an episode of his television series Bizarre Foods, compares their taste to tutti-frutti chewing gum. In Mexico, bedbugs are used to make sauces, add them to tacos, or fry them and mix them with chicken pate.
For their strong smell, stink bugs are also valued in Vietnam, where they are used to make spicy dish bọ xít, and in Laos, where bedbugs are ground into cheo paste with spices and herbs.
Tarantulas baked on coals
Where: Cambodia
Black-fried tarantulas, which look like varnished, charred firebrands, are a common street food in Cambodia. A successful tarantula catcher can catch up to two hundred individuals per day. They sell very quickly. Cambodian tarantulas are fried in a wok with salt and garlic - their meat tastes like a cross between chicken and fish.
Large tarantulas, reaching 28 cm in diameter, are eaten in Venezuela simply by roasting them on coals. A slightly more elegant method of preparing tarantulas is used in Japan: they first tear off the spider's abdomen, then singe the hairs and quickly fry them in tempura.
However, it is believed that the most delicious spiders are not tarantulas, but spiders from the Nephilidae family, which are eaten in New Guinea and Laos. These spiders taste like peanut butter when fried.
It turns out that there are about 1,462 species of edible insects on our planet. Yes, you probably won’t try such variety in your entire life. I also learned that insects contain more protein than chicken meat, as well as a lot of iron, magnesium and other equally useful elements. However, this nutritious living creature still doesn’t cause my appetite.)
But still, if you are going to travel to distant countries and want to try local exotic dishes, I present to your attention the top twelve most delicious dishes made from edible insects.
In Thailand, a plate of bamboo worms fried in oil is considered a completely traditional lunch. In fact, these are not worms at all, but larvae of grass moths that live in bamboo. They were usually collected by cutting bamboo stalks, but today they are farmed and eventually packaged in bags, just like chips.
A very popular village food in Eastern Indonesia are the larvae of longhorned beetles, which live in the roots of sago palms (by the way, these large and shiny beetles are quite common in Russia). Indonesians string beetles onto twigs and roast them over a fire. Local residents also use them as an ear brush - they insert a live larva into the ear, holding it by the tail with your fingers, and it very quickly eats the ear wax.
Sardinia is famous for its rotten cheese with worms - Casu marzu. It is made from goat milk with real cheese fly larvae. First, the top layer is cut off from the cheese so that the fly has the opportunity to lay its eggs in it. The emerging larvae gradually eat the cheese from the inside, and the acid released from them decomposes the fats in the cheese, thereby giving it a specific softness. The most interesting thing is that casu marzu can be eaten only when the larvae are still alive. And one more funny moment - larvae a centimeter in length can jump out of the cheese mass to a height of up to fifteen centimeters. There have been cases when a larva jumped right into the taster's eye, so the cheese is eaten with glasses or spread on bread, covering it with your hand.
For South Africans, the most important source of protein is the dried caterpillars of the South African peacock moth moth, which lives on the mopane tree. They do a lot of things in Africa from these caterpillars: they are dried, smoked, pickled and rolled into tins. Mopane caterpillars are prepared very simply: first, the green intestines are squeezed out, then they are boiled in salted water and finally dried. They are usually stewed in a variety of sauces, added to stews, fried until crunchy with onions, or served with corn porridge.
In Japan, the older generation still respects wasps and bees, from which they prepare a wide variety of dishes. One such dish is hatinoko - boiled bee larvae in soy sauce with sugar. The result is a caramel-like, translucent mass, which is served with rice. The Japanese are reminded of the post-war years by jibatinoko, a dish made from wasps (during this period, bees and wasps in Japan were especially actively eaten). Today these dishes can only be tasted in Nogano.
A little more common is fried wasps, which are served with beer in taverns in Japan.
The city of Suzhou (China) is famous for its delicacy of silkworm pupae. Caterpillars wrap themselves in a strong, thin silk thread, thereby forming a cocoon. Before they develop wings and legs in their cocoon, Suzhou residents boil the caterpillars and remove the cocoon, then quickly fry them in a wok with ginger, onion and garlic. When cooked correctly, silkworm meat tastes similar to shrimp or crab meat. This dish is also popular in Japan and Korea.
Ants are considered the most popular edible insects on Earth after grasshoppers. And in some countries, for example, in Colombia, you can simply buy them at the cinema instead of popcorn. The most delicious for Colombians are female ants with eggs. This “delicacy” is caught during the rain, when females climb to the surface from an anthill flooded with water.
The simplest rustic preparation is ants wrapped in leaves and lightly held over the fire. However, the so-called “honey” ants, common in Australia, are considered the most delicious. These insects collect sweet nectar and transport it in swollen abdomen. It is this transparent bottle that is considered the best sweet delicacy among the Australian aborigines.
Large water bugs can be found in different parts of our planet. These insects, belonging to the family Belostomatidae, reach a length of up to 15 centimeters. And if Americans consider them to be ordinary bugs, whose bites do not go away for several weeks, then Asians eat them with pleasure. For example, Thais deep-fry bedbugs and sell them together with cream sauce. However, they eat them whole compared to the Filipinos, who still tear off the wings and legs. Like this different culture eating.)
Grasshoppers - almost National dish Mexicans. In Mexico, they are boiled, fried, dried, soaked in lime juice, or eaten raw. But the most popular dish is guacamole with grasshoppers. The insects are fried very quickly, after which they change their green color to red, then mixed with avocado and spread on a corn tortilla.
In general, grasshoppers are eaten in all countries where insects are eaten. In the Middle East they like to first boil grasshoppers and then dry them in the sun; in China they prefer to make kebabs from them; in Uganda they are used as an additive in soups. By the way, until recently in Uganda, women were not allowed to eat grasshoppers, as it was believed that they could give birth to children with a deformed head like a grasshopper.
They love to eat dragonflies in Bali. Catching a dragonfly is actually not that easy. To do this, local residents use special sticks coated with fairly sticky tree sap. But the most difficult moment– with a smooth and at the same time quick movement, touch the dragonfly with the wand. Large specimens caught have their wings torn off and then quickly boiled in coconut milk with garlic and ginger or grilled. They are also used to make something similar to candy - fried in coconut oil and sprinkled with sugar on top.
Grass bugs are prized in Mexico for their distinctive, strong medicinal odor. Mexicans prepare sauces from them, mix them with chicken pate after frying them, or add them to tacos. In South Africa there is less preference for unpleasant smell stink bugs, and to get rid of it, the bugs are first soaked for a long time, then dried and chewed.
A fairly common street food in Cambodia is fried tarantulas, which look more like charred varnished firebrands. They are fried in a wok with garlic and salt. In Venezuela, large individuals of tarantulas (28 cm in diameter) are simply baked on coals. But the most delicious are spiders from the Nephilidae family, which are eaten in Laos and New Guinea. If you fry them well, they taste like peanut butter.
Culture
The planet is inhabited by about 1900 edible insect species, half of which are common foodstuffs for many peoples. Although the Western world is not particularly inclined to eat worms, cockroaches And spiders, Asians, for example, have long been accustomed to this and They don’t consider crawling creatures something disgusting.
It is estimated that two billion people on the planet eat the most different insects daily, and both raw and cooked. Insects are rich in protein, fiber, healthy fats and even vital vitamins!
For example, mealworm- beetle larva darkling beetles a certain species that lives in temperate regions of the planet. These worms are rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals, and nutritionally comparable to meat and fish. Another very useful product- a grasshopper, which can be put on a par with beef meat, but this insect there is no fat, which makes it dietary.
Raising worms in captivity doesn't cost that much like raising cows, pigs and sheep. To produce protein, insects do not require as much food as larger animals. From an environmental point of view, raising insects does not harm the planet as much as raising cattle.
Another interesting fact: many insects are pests, and if a person eats them, no need to use harmful pesticides to protect the crop. Moreover, collecting and processing insects will provide employment larger number people, especially in the developing tropical countries where they live.
But How to turn Westerners into insectivores, if for many generations no one ate insects? We suggest you first get acquainted with the most popular edible insects and dishes made from them, some of which can be called real delicacies.
Beetles
Among the beetles that are most often eaten are: stag beetles, dung beetles And rhinoceros beetles. They are especially loved by people living in the Amazon basin, in parts of Africa and other areas covered with dense tropical forests or temperate forests. These species of beetles live in tree canopies, in logs, and at the base of trees.
Native Americans are known to have roasted them over coals and ate like popcorn. These insects easily convert tree cellulose into easily digestible fats. Beetles also have more protein than any other insect.
Butterflies and moths
These insects are perhaps the cutest of all. Who hasn’t admired the smoothly fluttering colorful butterflies flying from one flower to another? However, it turns out that they too do not hesitate to eat. More precisely, their larvae and pupae, which are rich in protein and iron.
These foods are very popular in African countries and are an excellent supplement for children and pregnant women who are deficient in these nutrients. IN Central and South America The fatty and fleshy caterpillars that live on agave plants and develop into butterflies are highly prized as food and are even added to the famous Mexican alcoholic drink from agave.
The use of worms for food allows keep their numbers under control.
Bees and wasps
We respect bees, since they produce healthy and tasty honey, but bees - it is not only valuable honey, but also valuable “meat”. Indigenous peoples of Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and Mexico eat these insects, or rather their larvae.
The offspring of bees in the form eggs, pupae or larvae, which are hidden in honeycombs, are eaten like peanuts or almonds. They are said to taste like pine nuts.
Ants
You probably think that to prepare a dish from ants a huge number of these insects may be needed. However in 100 grams red ants (that is, about 1 thousand insects), for example, are contained 14 g protein(more than in chicken eggs), approximately 48 mg calcium and, among other beneficial substances, a large amount of iron. And all this is less than in 100 kcal. This product is also very low in carbohydrates.
Grasshoppers, crickets and locusts
Grasshoppers and their closest relatives are the most popular edible insects, apparently because they are distributed throughout the planet and are quite easy to catch. There is a wide variety of species of these insects.
Grasshoppers are very rich in protein, they have a neutral taste, so they can be combined with other foods. Locust also quite a popular product, these insects cause harm agriculture, and their use allows to significantly reduce their number.
Flies and mosquitoes
These insects are not as popular as snacks as some others, such as termites or even lice, however flies And mosquitoes They eat too! Flies being fed various types cheese, acquire the taste of these products, and species that live near water, something tastes like duck or fish.
Greblyaki
These ubiquitous small insects, which are easy to raise in captivity, lay eggs on the stems of aquatic plants growing in both fresh and salt water. Their eggs are dried and shaken from plants, and then made from Mexican caviar or eaten raw. They are said to taste somewhat like shrimp or fish.
Shield insects
If you don't mind the stinky smell, you can add these insects to your dishes to get apple flavor. They are an excellent source of iodine. It is also known that stink bugs have analgesic properties.
These green insects drink tree sap and have green coloration and shield-like bodies, hence the name. They love to eat them peoples of some areas of eastern Africa and Mexico.
Insect dishes
Cheese with worms. One of the most famous and disgusting cheeses is cheese Kazu-marzu prepared from goat milk and cheese fly larvae Piophila casei. Those who are already fed up with blue cheeses can try again more original cheese with worms.
This dish is prepared on the island of Sardinia. Worms that have infested in rotten cheese are eaten alive, but when eating cheese, there is a high risk of poisoning. However, it is believed that live larvae do not cause harm, but This cheese is still banned in Italy.
Boiled bees. This dish is called Hachinoko took root in Japan. Bee larvae are boiled in soy sauce with added sugar. It goes perfectly with a side dish of rice. The dish has become especially popular in the post-war years when more traditional dishes were in short supply. Boiled bees and wasps are still in great demand.
By the way, in Japanese stores you can find canned bees, which are produced by beekeeping farms. Some wild bee and wasp hunters track wild hives by tying strings to the insects, but this is quite a difficult task. Dishes made from wild insects are rare and very expensive.
Water bugs in creamy sauce. This popular Thai dish is made from insects of the species Lethocerus indicus. They are deep fried and then topped with a creamy sauce. These insects are said to taste like shrimp. They are usually served as appetizers. The Vietnamese make a sauce from water bugs, which they add to small quantity to soups.
Grilled dragonflies. This dish is preferred on the island of Bali (Indonesia). Using sticks coated with sticky juice, dragonflies are caught, their wings are separated, and then fried over a fire or boiled in coconut milk with various seasonings. There are also sweet versions of this dish.
Fried tarantulas. Giant tarantula spiders are loved in Cambodia. They are caught and then fried in frying pans over coals until black. They say that spider meat tastes like a cross between chicken and fish.
In addition to tarantulas, Asia also loves other spiders, for example, in Laos and New Guinea they do not disdain spiders of the family Nephilidae. Fried spiders resemble peanuts.
Many people may think that eating insects is terrible and disgusting. But if you think about it, it's no different from eating the body parts of cows, pigs and chickens. Moreover, Eastern civilization has been eating insects for quite some time, and Western civilization is gradually starting to join this trend. Find out where you should start if you want to try insects.
Introduction to entomophagy, or eating insects
Insects are an important source of food in many places on our planet, and they are gradually becoming more accepted and popular in places where they were usually shunned. Why eat them? Insects are available in abundance and are very nutritious. They contain an impressive amount of fat, minerals, vitamins, and most importantly, protein. How they taste and what their nutritional value is depends on what they eat, what species they are, what stage of development they are in, and how they are prepared. Therefore, an insect that may taste like chicken in one situation may taste more like fish or even fruit in another situation. If you have previously tried to eat an insect and did not like it, you should consider giving them a second chance. If you've never tried insects before, this article will give you a list of some to get you started.
Grasshoppers and crickets
There are about two thousand edible insect species, but grasshoppers and crickets are the most popular when it comes to eating them. They can be eaten fried, baked, boiled or deep-fried. In some countries they are grown to be ground into edible protein powder. Crickets, locusts and grasshoppers belong to the order Orthoptera.
Mopane caterpillars
Almost every species of grasshopper or cricket is edible, but this is not the case with caterpillars. Caterpillars are the larvae of butterflies and moths. Like the adult forms, some caterpillars are poisonous. The mopane worm (which is actually a caterpillar) is one of the species used as food. It has a particularly high iron content - from 31 to 77 milligrams per 100 grams (for comparison, 100 grams of dry weight beef contains only 6 milligrams). Caterpillars are an important food item in Africa, but they are gradually gaining popularity in other parts of the world. The agave worm is another edible type of caterpillar that can often be found in agave liquor. The same can be said about silkworms and bamboo worms.
Palm larvae
Palm maggots are the larval form of palm weevils. This tasty delicacy is most often fried in its own fat. Larvae are especially popular in Indonesia, Central America and Malaysia. Cooked grubs taste like sweet bacon, while fresh they are praised for their creamy texture. Palm maggots are tropical creatures native to Southeast Asia. Although they are usually harvested from palm trees, they are also grown artificially in Thailand.
Mealworms
In Western countries, people are already feeding mealworms to their birds and other pets, and they are gradually gaining acceptance as a human food product. Mealworms can be easily grown in temperate climates compared to many other edible insects that prefer the tropics. When raised as food, the larvae are fed oats, grains and wheat bran, with apples, potatoes or carrots added for liquid. The nutritional value of these larvae is exactly the same as that of beef. For human consumption, they may be ground into a powder or served baked, fried, or deep-fried. Their flavor is more reminiscent of shrimp than beef, which makes sense because mealworms are the larval form of mealworms. Like shrimp, beetles are arthropods. Many other types of beetle larvae are also edible.
Ants
Certain species of ants are highly prized as delicacies. Found in the Amazon jungle, lemon ants have a lemon scent, as their name suggests. Leafcutter ants are used for frying and taste similar to bacon and pistachios. Honey ants are not cooked at all and have a sweet taste. IN Western civilization The most common species of ant eaten is the carpenter ant. You can eat absolutely everything: adult ants, their larvae and even their eggs. Ant eggs are considered a kind of insect caviar and are usually very expensive. Insects can be eaten raw (even live), fried, or ground in the form of a drink additive. Bees and wasps belong to the same order of insects, so they are also edible.
Other edible insects and arthropods
Other edible insects include dragonflies, cicadas, bee larvae, cockroaches, and fly pupae and larvae. Earthworms They are annelids, not insects. These edible worms are rich in iron and protein. Centipedes are also not insects, but people eat them too. Although they are not insects, people usually place scorpions and spiders in the same category. Like some previous creatures, arachnids belong to the order of arthropods. This means that they are related to crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs. Scorpions and spiders taste like earthy clams. Lice are also edible, but if you eat them in front of other people, you may get some weird looks. Beetles are also arthropods and are edible.
What insects can you eat? V Middle lane Russia, so as not to get poisoned? I have collected the most common types of insects that can be eaten if you are in survival conditions
Black forest ants and their larvae
In the forest you can often find anthills, and ants live in them. Ants are an excellent food for the hungry prepper. They contain a lot of protein. Ants contain formic acid, which is easily, almost completely neutralized during heat treatment (cooking). Red ants are very acidic (they contain a lot of formic acid).
How to cook:
- Ant broth
- Roasting ants
- Eat raw
Ant eggs
Ant eggs are a light food that is very easy to collect. They are very nutritious and contain a lot of protein. There is one simple way to collect ant eggs.
We dig up an anthill from the side (or at least from above). We scatter the contents of the anthill on a cloth (you can use an awning or a jacket), wrap the edges. Be sure to spread the cloth (fabric, jacket) so that straight lines fall on it Sun rays. To avoid the eggs and larvae from drying out, the ants begin to drag them into the shade (under the folds of fabric or jackets). This way we get a lot of nutritious and clean (without soil and garbage) product.
Wood beetle larva
A very easy to obtain food and very nutritious is the larva of the wood beetle. It is not difficult to obtain it by tearing off the bark of a rotten tree, or simply by picking apart the passages of the woodworm and pulling out the juicy white larva. The larvae feed on wood, so they can be eaten raw, baked, fried, boiled...
Grasshoppers and locusts
IN summer season In the fields and meadows you can find grasshoppers, which can also be eaten. Grasshoppers can be fried over a fire, strung on a stick, or deep-fried (boiling oil). First season well with spices and salt.
Locust
The locust is similar to a grasshopper, but much larger. John the Baptist, as is known, ate grasshoppers: the locusts, which he ate with wild honey, are locusts, a close relative of the grasshopper.
According to the Book of Leviticus (11:22), four types of insects were considered acceptable in the diet of the ancient Israelites: “...of these you shall eat: the locust with its kind, the solam (type of locust) with its kind, the hargol (beetle) with its kind, and the chagab ( grasshopper) with her breed.” The Gospel of Matthew (3.4) says that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey in the desert. Acrids are known to be several species of true locusts common in the Middle East and North Africa.
Carlton Kuhn's book "The Hunting Man" tells how the Indians caught locusts. They dug a trench and filled it with dry grass, which the locusts feed on, then they drove the locusts into the trench with sticks, they set the grass in the trench on fire, the locusts were fried, the villagers collected the ready-made fried locusts and carried away.
The pioneers of America also prepared locusts. They boiled it in salt water and then fried it on butter with vegetables and vinegar.
During the summer, the California Indians consumed huge quantities of locusts. They soaked these insects in salt water, then baked them in clay ovens, then ground and added to soups.
In Africa, they love locusts; they eat them raw, cook them on stones or on an open fire. In Japan, locusts are marinated in soy sauce and fried. In Asia they fry in oil. In Taiwan, locusts are a delicacy, served even in the most expensive restaurants. Locust is very nutritious. It contains 50 percent protein (more than beef) as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins B 2 and niacin (nicotinic acid - vitamin PP)
How to cook locusts?
Before cooking, locusts should be boiled, after removing the legs and wings, then fried in oil. According to some gourmets, locusts taste like crayfish
Dragonfly
You can also eat dragonflies if you first tear off their wings and fry them, it will turn out very well. In Bali, for example, dragonflies are considered a delicacy. They even manage to make sweets from them, after frying them in boiling coconut oil and sprinkling them with sugar. Dragonflies are cooked in the same way.
Earthworms
Absolutely tasteless, but at the same time quite nutritious, and it’s not difficult to get them special labor. Worms can be eaten raw, after removing the dirt. Some craftsmen even manage to make cutlets from worms. Worms can also be baked.
Crickets
Crickets live in burrows. To get a cricket, fill its hole with water and it will come out on its own. We catch it, and then fry it, even boil it, or even bake it over the fire.
What insects can be eaten in extreme conditions?
