Cicada Recipes... NO KIDDING

[arwalden]

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

Cooking “with” cicadas
A staple food in the past for Australian Aborigines, New Guineans, Siamese people, and American Indians, cicadas were considered a special delicacy in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as modern-day Japan. They contain a high protein content, and since cicadas eat only vegetable matter, they are a pure and wholesome food source.

Additionally, they are said to be tasty, having a delicate nutty flavor. Who to cook: newly hatched cicadas, called tenerals, are considered best for eating because their shells have not hardened. It is best to collect these in the very early hours of the morning, just after they have emerged, but before they have time to climb up out of reach. The best way to do this is to simply go outside with a brown paper bag and starting scooping them in.

They should be blanched (boiled for 4-5 mintues) soon after collection and before you eat them! Not only will this make their insides solidify a bit, but it will get rid of any soil bacteria that is living on or in them.

You can then cook with them immediately, or freeze them. Keep in mind that freezing them will work best for those that you are going to Soft-Shelled Cicadas

Ingredients:
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
60 freshly emerged 17 year cicadas
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups flour
Salt and pepper to season flour
1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions:
Marinate cicadas, alive in a sealed container, in Worcestershire sauce for several hours.*

Dip them, in beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently saute them until they are golden brown.

Yield:
4 main dish servings
*this step may be skipped and you may go directly to the egg step
instead.

YUM YUM!

[davidinalameda]

1. marinate them alive?

gods, that's enough to make me go vegan

[slutticus]

2. I had a professor in college

...who made us go out and collect them so that he could extract proteins from them...

WTF?

This guy was nuts.

[SharonAnn]

3. Thanks, i needed that. I invited my Florida brother to come and

see them but he can't. He sent back an email asking how do they taste, as a joke.

So, I'm sending him your link!

[commander bunnypants]

4. Spew

But I quess to each there own

DDQM

[MisterP]

5. does this have anything to do with the upcoming cicada emergence,

the biggest insect emergence in recent history?

[arwalden]

6. My yard has THOUSANDS of emergence holes...

and my trees are covered with their molted skins. Once and awhile, I'll see one that's still waiting for its wings to "inflate" and harden.

It looks like the birds on my lawn are having a feast... but I can't be sure what they are eating... could be worms... but it's doubtful.

-- Allen

[galadrium]

7. I am going to try some this time.

[Sequoia]

8. Well, I just lost my lunch thank you

and my keyboard is a mess.

[m-jean03]

9. I ate a fried grasshopper once

Those cicadas sound delish! :9