Introduction to “Entomophagy” Lab
Problem: Can insects be considered as being edible?
Introduction
Edible insects; you may feel that these
two words do not even belong in the same sentence. You have every right to be
skeptical. In all probability, you have never deliberately eaten an insect.
However you have probably inadvertently consumed over a pound of insects in
your lifetime. There is a term for this. The word is Entomophagy or bug eating.
Some insects are edible. In fact, most insects
are edible, but there are a few species that are especially palatable,
nutritious, and easily obtainable. Many species of insects are lower in fat,
higher in protein, and have a better feed to meat ratio than beef, lamb, pork,
or chicken. Insects are tasty. Even if you are too squeamish to have them as a
main dish, you can make insect flour and add it to bread and other dishes for
an added protein boost.
There
are 1,462 recorded species of edible insects:
100 grams of cricket contains: 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.5 g. of
fat, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 185.3
mg. of phosphorous, 9.5 mg. of iron, 0.36 mg. of thiamin, 1.09 mg. of
riboflavin, and 3.10 mg. of niacin.
Compare this with ground beef, which, although it contains more protein (23.5
g.), also has 288.2 calories and a whopping 21.2 grams of fat!
Insects are commonly found in the following foods:
Apple butter - 5 insects per 100g
Berries - 4 larvae per 500g OR 10 whole insects per 500g
Ground paprika - 75 insect fragments per 25g
Chocolate - 80 microscopic insect fragments per 100g
Canned sweet corn - 2.3mm-length larvae, cast skins or fragments
Cornmeal - 1 insect per 50g
Canned mushrooms - 20 maggots per 100g
Peanut butter - 60 fragments per 100g (136 per lb)
Tomato paste, pizza, and other sauces - 30 eggs per 100g OR 2 maggots per 100g
Wheat flour - 75 insect fragments per 50g
Your insect consumption adds up. Flour
beetles, weevils, and other insect pests that infest granaries are milled along
with the grain, finally ending up as tiny black specks in your piece of bread.
Small grubs and other tiny insects can be found in your fruit and vegetables.
Insects are especially common in canned and other types of processed food, and
even in certain beverages, like apple cider for instance. They process the
fallen and or rotten apples including the worms and insects who have found the
apples on the ground. It is virtually impossible that you have not ingested
insects in one form or another during your lifetime. And it probably did not
harm you, but instead did you some good by providing extra carbohydrates and protein
in your meal!
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Hypothesis: If insects such as meal worms, crickets, and
cockroaches are prepared and cooked properly, then they can
be
considered edible.
Procedure:
Apparatii:
Provide by School
1000 Mealworms (medium)
250 Crickets (6 wks, 1”)
5 Hissing Cockroaches (Adult)
All Kitchen Appliances and Utensils
* Some recipe items (need to verify)
Provided by Student
* See recipe (minus the insects and some recipe
items (need to verify))
Steps:
1.
Each person is to choose one or two recipe(s) of their choice; however,
prior to choosing one person will be randomly picked to create the house
specialty, “Stir Fried Cockroaches”.
2.
By using kitchen appliances and utensils, create the dish.
3.
Note that the insects need to be prepared correctly (see handout)
4.
Dish must be displayed in a gourmet manner.
5.
A participation grade will be established based on cleanliness,
professionalism, and interest.
6.
Other:
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. Although people in many other
countries prefer to eat live insects as you will read below, it is always good for a beginner to start with dead insects.
To
prepare 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, and 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!
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The House Specialty
Stir Fried Cockroach
Materials:
4-5 Cockroaches (recently frozen)
1 Onion (~4 oz)
1 Red Pepper (~4 oz)
1 Green Pepper (~4oz)
Salt (1 TBS)
MSG (2 TBS) (white crystalline compound used as a
food additive to enhance flavor; often used in Chinese cooking)
Corn Starch (1 TBS)
Cooking Oil (4 TBS)
White Rice (bag)
Steps:
1. Remove and discard the solid wing covering flaps
and all legs of the cockroach.
2. Put the whole cockroach into a pot of boiling oil
quickly fry for 15 seconds.
3. Heat up a wok until hot. Add 4 spoons of oil and
put all vegetables into it to stir fry for 3 minutes.
4. Put the half fried cockroach in to the wok and
add salt, MSG, and corn starch.
Serve on or with a bed of white rice.
House Choices
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 mealworms “flour” (grounded mealworms)
Cream butter well, and 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
Fahrenheit
Chocolate Covered Crickets
25 adult crickets
Several squares of semisweet chocolate
Prepare the crickets as described above (legs, wings, antenna, etc). 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.
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Mealworm
Fried Rice
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. oil
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. chopped onions
4 tsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1 c. minute rice
1 c. cooked mealworms
Scramble egg in a saucepan, stirring to break egg into pieces.
Add water, soy sauce, garlic and onions. Bring to a boil.
Stir in rice. Cover; remove from heat and let stand five minutes.
Note:
Don’t cook rice separately.
Chocolate Chirpie
Chip Cookies
2-1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 12 oz bag chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dry roasted crickets
Preheat
oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set
aside. In large bowl, combine butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and
vanilla; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture and
insects; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded measuring
teaspoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Spread a bunch of
crickets out on a cookie sheet. You can substitute any edible insect you'd
like. Bake at very low temperature for an hour or two at about 200 degrees
until completely dry. You can test this by crushing the dried insect with your
fingers. If they do not seem completely dried out, roast them some more.
However, be careful not to burn them as they taste terrible scorched! Let cool.
They have a nutty flavor and are very good eaten plain with a sprinkle of salt.
They are also very tasty as a substitute for nuts in dessert recipes. Try them
in your favorite cookie recipe. Dried insects can also be blended into a flour and added to bread flours to make lots of different
recipes.
Insect Crunch
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
Big Bowl of Popcorn
1 cup roasted insects
Slowly heat butter and honey and mix well. Mix the insects with the popcorn and
pour in the butter/honey mixture and stir well. Spread this out on a cookie
sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cut onto small pieces and serve.
Sautéed Insects
1-2
cups insects
1/3
cup butter
3
cloves garlic
Melt
butter, add garlic sauté for several minutes to blend flavors and then add
insects. Sauté for an additional 10 minutes or until tender.
Hopper Patties
1 cup of insects
1 egg
1 small onion
salt and pepper (hot
chili: optional)
bread crumbs
Finely chop a cup of insects in a food
processor (a blender would be difficult) with an egg, half a small onion,
season with salt, pepper or even hot chili and enough bread crumbs to form dough.
Mold the dough into patties and grille or pan fry until brown