Beginners Guide to Entomoculture and Entomophagy, Ingredients and Recipes

Beginners Guide to Entomoculture and Entomophagy, Ingredients and Recipes

 

Cooking is my private passion, it brings me peace and satisfaction, while also providing nutrition for friends and family.

 

The water footprint is always a major consideration in Araxes. To grow a ton of potatoes requires a ton of water, compared with coffee or chocolate which requires 200 tons of water per ton.

 

Even in enclosed agricultural habitats such as starships, space stations or deep underground wati seeqs, the water footprint of a given crop is a good first indicator of the amount of infrastructure and cost needed to raise a given quantity of the crop.

 

Most 'traditional' offworlder animal products requires from 70 to 400 tons of water per ton. This was an unacceptable drain on water resources and agricultural resources, especially to the early settlers. Alternatives had to be found.

 

Entomoculture became the standard for meat in Araxes because the insects and other arthropods have a low water footprint and are very feed efficient.

 

Most beetle species require between 1.5 and 2.0 kilograms of feed per kilogram of beetle meat. The water footprint for farmed beetles is only 22 tons of water per ton of meat. That is only 38 millilitres per gram of protein and 50 millilitres of water per kilocalorie.

 

Offworlders often find it frustrating in general when trying to adjust to the cuisine challenges of a different foodbase, especially those not accustomed to entomophagy. This is compounded by the fact that most foods in Araxes that have a water footprint greater than 25 tons of water per ton of product, whether grown in enclosures or imported, are usually more expensive than they are accustomed to.

 

To help with the transition, please consider this helpful guide and try these simple starter recipes.

 

Ant Eggs, the new caviar. Served raw and spread over bread or crackers. Popped Ant Eggs is a popular treat, and have a naturally buttery flavor, kids love ‘em.

 

Agave Worm, also known as the maguey worm, the larvae of either the Hypopta Agavis Moth or the Aegiale Hesperiaris, are included in tequila bottles as proof of authenticity and alcohol content (tequila must be of high enough proof to preserve the worm). They are also eaten as part of a meal, and are highly nutritious.

 

Agave Worm is also popular in Tequila Worm Lollipops are sugar-free, complete with an edible worm inside each pop.

 

Roasted Carpenter Ants are a tasty crunchy treat, but the crunching might be too loud for public cinema.

 

Honeypot Ants have abdomens swollen with a nectar-like substance, connoisseurs consider them best eaten raw, but I find them wonderful caramelized in a pan.

 

Leafcutter Ants, also known as Hormigas Culonas (big-butted ant), taste like a cross between bacon and pistachio, and are usually eaten toasted, popular on cinema nights like popcorn. They are said to boost the immune system and give those who eat them extra energy, popular with kids

 

Chocolate-Covered Giant Queen Leafcutter Ants are bathed in chocolate, taste nutty.

 

Lemon ants have a distinctive lemony taste, I throw them in with the caramelized honeypot ants.

 

Flying Ant, known as Sompopos, the flying queens are collected and roasted with salt and any kind of tangy citris juice. They taste something like buttery pork rinds. At some finer restaurants, the flying ant queens are pitted against each other and fight to the death before being cooked. Usually takes about a dozen matchups to make a full family meal. Up to you how to decide who gets to eat the winner and who gets to eat the losers.

 

Bamboo Worm are the larvae of the bamboo eating Grass Moth. Don’t over think it, best eaten fried.

 

Bee Larvae, all they eat is royal jelly, pollen, and honey! The larvae, sautéed in butter, taste much like mushroomy bacon. Adult bees are also eaten, roasted and then ground into a nutritious flour.

 

I strongly recommend the clarified fat of the Rhino Beetle Larvae instead of imported bovine dairy butter. Rhino Beetle Larvae are very high in protein, calcium, and phosphorous.

 

The only import on this list, Periodical Cicadas, live underground for 17 years before emerging and moulting into adults. Just after they moult, they have soft, juicy bodies, and are very tender and delicious. Connoisseurs consider them best eaten raw, I find their juiciness makes them great fried until they pop open. When eating them, it is traditional to discuss what was going on the last time the cicada’s moulted.

 

Cockroaches are edible, just not the ones you find around your home; only eat farm fresh cockroaches and the large ones hunted in the open desert. Cockroaches are clean and tasty insects, especially when fed on fresh fruits and vegetables. Versatile, can be toasted, fried, sautéed, or boiled, they have a taste and texture like greasy chicken but without all the cholesterol. Cockroaches and waterbeetles are the most efficient converters of feed to edible calories of any animal. Most entomoculture usually starts with cockroaches and waterbeetles.

 

Cricket are also versatile, best eaten fried or roasted, but popular sautéed or boiled.

 

Pregnant Crickets are a person favourite, laden with eggs are a tasty snack, caught and flash-frozen in the wild then cleaned, cooked, and lightly salted.

 

Orthopteran Orzo is pasta with a scattering of tiny six-legged cricket meatballs has been a family recipe of mine handed down for generations since before the Spice Wars. The crickets give the pasta a tangy crunch, though a few of those legs may stick in your throat on the way down, best eaten accompanied with wine.

 

Dragonfly, eaten in adult or larval form, boiled or fried.

 

Scarab, eaten fried are quite tasty. Crack the shell and pull out the meat. They have a lot of juice, they get messy.

 

The fatty acid pattern of House Fly Pupae (Musca domestica L.) is similar to that of some fish oils. Shaped like small red pills, the flavour is rich with a hint of iron, sort of like blood pudding.

 

Grasshopper, known as Chapulines are eaten roasted with chilli peppers and lime, they are high in protein and calcium.

 

Tomato Hornworm are fried up much the same as the fruit of the plant on which they feed, they taste a bit like green tomatoes, shrimp, and crab.

 

Jumiles (stink bugs) are high in B vitamins, taste bitter like cinnamon, they have tranquilizing and analgesic properties. Cooked over medium heat, they survive the cooking process, and are considered best eaten alive. They are a popular road food as they can live for up to a week after being cooked, always best to eat fresh.

 

June Bugs (Phyllophaga) can be eaten at both the larval and adult stage, roasted over coals and eaten like popcorn.

 

Larvets Worm are crunchy baked snack ad come in a variety of flavours including BBQ, Cheddar Cheese, and Latin Spice.

 

Locusts are a popular treat for traditionalists. Even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.

 

Mopane Worm, dried, they taste like an earthy jerky.

 

Mealworm are the larva of the Mealworm Beetle. Prepared boiled, sautéed, roasted, or fried, and taste like a nutty shrimp.

 

Midge Fly are pressed into solid blocks and cooked into Kunga Cake.

 

Nsenene is a tasty grasshopper is a delicacy prepared fried, they taste like a cross between chicken, shrimp, and croutons.

 

Pill-bugs, AKA sowbugs, roly-poly’s or woodlice, are terrestrial crustaceans closely related to lobsters, crab and shrimp. When boiled, they turn red.

 

One of the strongest animals, the Rhino Beetle can lift 850 times its own weight. Parents tell their children to eat them so they can group up big and strong. It’s propaganda, but the rhino beetle larvae are very high in protein, calcium, and phosphorous. They are popular fried, stewed, grilled or roasted. The clarified fat of the rhino beetle larvae is used like a kind of butter.

 

Sago Grubs are the larvae of the Palm Weevil. Sago Delight (fried Sago grubs), cooked in Sago flour, and wrapped in a Sago leaf like a tamale. Taste somewhat like bacon, and are an essential source of fat.

 

Silk Worm, known as Bon Daegi, and are an edible byproduct of the silk-harvesting process.

 

Scorpions are often skewered and fried, they have a flavour like soft-shell crab.

 

Scorpions with the poison sac removed are encased in a delicious candy coating, kids love ‘em.

 

Tarantula are high in protein, and are believed to help boost virility. They taste somewhat like an earthy crab. Oven-Baked Tarantula are pre-baked, simply remove fangs, warm, and enjoy. Tarantula tempura is easy and fun.

 

Termites are often eaten raw, but I think they are best eaten after being slightly roasted.

 

Wasps are eaten in both adult and larval stages. Boiled, sautéed, roasted and fried, they taste somewhat buttery and earthy. Boiled wasps with rice is a simple after school dish taught to kids.

 

The Giant Waterbug, Toebiter, is popular and versatile, both consumed whole (steamed or fried), and as an extract in sauces. Raw, the bugs have a scent like a green apple. Steamed, their flesh (plentiful enough to make small filets), tastes like a briny, perfumy banana/melon, with the consistency of fish. Giant Water Beetles are de-shelled and then eaten either fried or roasted, taste similar to scallops. Spicy Giant Bug Paste, dipping sauce contains crushed Giant Waterbugs (AKA Giant Scorpions) along with assorted spices and chillies. This paste makes the perfect dipping sauce for tortillas, sticky rice, and all of those other edible insects you love to dip.

 

Waxworm, the larvae of the wax moth, in the wild wax worms are a parasite of bee hives. In captivity, they are fed on a diet of bran and honey. Roasted or sautéed, they taste like a cross between a pine nut and an enoki mushroom, and are high in essential fatty acids.

 

Weaver Ants eggs can be collected for only one month per year, large and squishy, and need to be cooked thoroughly before eating them on your salad or chips.

 

Wichetty Grub, large, white, wood-eating moth or beetle larvae, high in protein and edible either raw or lightly seared over fire coals. Often roasted in coals or over a fire, tastes like nut-flavored scrambled eggs and mild mozzarella, wrapped in a phyllo dough pastry.

 

Zaza-Mushi — Aaza, the sound of rushing river water, and Mushi, insect — are the larvae of aquatic caddis flies. Zaza-mushi are boiled then sautéed in soy sauce and sugar. Sadly, not found in the wild in Araxes, they are farmed in biodome enclaves.

 

Want to try your hand at Entomoculture? Here are a few starter ideas for you to get your kids to try at home.

 

Raising Mealworms (Tenebrio Molitor) requires a flat tub with a lid, fill it with an inch or so of oats or other grain, put in a slice of potato, carrot or other hard vegetable as a source of water, and then deposit the mealworms! Replace the slice of potato fairly frequently to avoid mould. Larval mealworms require a few months before they mature into beetles. 100 mealworm larvae is a good colony start, but 5000 is needed for regular consumptions. Float the mealworm tub in a dish of soapy water to prevent ant infestation. Unlike crickets, mealworms are unlikely to escape unless you are careless.

 

Crickets are quite easy to raise and prepare, but escape is an issue. Crickets should be kept in any fairly large container with high sides and a tight fitting lid or an aquarium with a couple inches of potting soil on the bottom where the crickets deposit their eggs. Several dozen small cuplike roosts should be available for the crickets to roost on. Then, place a small container of grains and vegetable scraps in for food, and a container of moist cotton balls for water. Add 50-100 crickets. Mist the potting soil lightly every few days, and make sure that the crickets always have fresh food. You can probably start harvesting the crickets within a few months.

 

Take the desired quantity of live insects, rinse them off and then pat them dry. This is easier to do with mealworms than 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 some recipes call for you to chop off their heads. Cricket's heads, hind legs, and wing cases can be removed according to personal preference or particular recipe.

 

Warning: The meat beetles, land lobsters and steak spiders hunted in the open desert require special handling when dressing the carcass, make sure that the poison sac and Molotov glands are not pierced or it will taint the meat and fat.