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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Cicadas, eating thereof
  • Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:42:27 -0400

I don't know how chickens feel about Japanese Beetles, but they are not edible by people. I went to a nature camp as a kid. We ate all sorts of odd things. The grasshoppers and ants were delicious. One summer some folks had been picking Japanese Beetles off the rose bushes, and decided to try eating them. They laid them out on a cookie tray, roasted them, and prepared to feast. . . Not one person could get them down. Apparently they are very bitter, not to mention the unpleasant texture. (This is a group of people who happily ate other insects, you understand. It was also an "environmental" kind of place - no poisons on the rose bushes, just people picking off the bugs.)

My father once ate 1/2 of a beetle that was hiding in his salad. He took a bite and spat it out in disgust (finding the half beetle shortly thereafter.) He said the flavor was so foul that he couldn't eat for the rest of the day.

From these two incidents I have assumed that beetles don't taste very good.

Cicadas look quite similar to insects which are very tasty, such as grasshoppers and crickets. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they are good to eat. And don't worry about the saturated fat in chocolate - it is an unusual fatty acid, and it doesn't seem to cause problems like more common saturated fatty acids. In fact, the antioxidants in dark chocolate make it a net win for heart-health. Although I'd think a simpler accompaniment such as butter and salt would be better for cicadas.

Ginda

On Apr 30, 2004, at 2:44 PM, rob hamilton wrote:

One of the links suggested that Japanese Beatles being
edible. Next month I will have enough to eat and put
up for storage. Anyone got a recipe for JB jam? :)

Actally, I dont think I could stand popping them in my
mouth (at least the adults), but I wish I could get
the birds interested in them.

Robert


--- longdistshtr <longdistshtr@shtc.net> wrote:
As Jerry Lehman mentioned in his American Persimmon
Interest Group Article
(Pomona, Spring '04) some Native American diet items
have gone unappreciated
over the years. However uninformed this information
may seem, there is an
element of fact in it.
Being that this is a target year for the emergence
of tenerals from all
those grubs which have been gnawing our delicate
feeder roots for almost two
decades, there is a chance for revenge and also to
revive a favored fare of
this Land's former inhabitants.
They are surprisingly delicious and in some parts of
the Country there will
be plenty of them to sample if you are so inclined.
Try 'em. You'll
probably like 'em. The females are best. The listed
site has several
recipes. I'd advise one to stay away from the
saturated fat in the
chocolate covered ones. Leave a few to serenade me
with their "July Fly
Overture" on a hot summer afternoon while I sip my
Mint Julep.


http://www.urhome.umd.edu/newsdesk/pdf/cicada%20recipes.PDF

Doc Lisenby
Zone 7/8 (SC-whar we don't know nothin' 'bout no
'simmon puddin' but the
'possums are good 'n fat)







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