We rustle up six bug recipes and rate cooked critters from sweet chilli scorpion to grasshopper hash brown
After Sainsbury’s became the first supermarket to stock creepy-crawlies by selling bags of barbecued crickets for £1.50, we put edible insects to the test
INSECTS are creeping their way on to shop shelves, but can commonly feared critters really make for a delicious meal?
Sainsbury’s announced last week that it is the first supermarket to stock creepy-crawlies, selling bags of barbecued crickets for £1.50.
And experts reckon chowing down on protein-heavy insects instead of meat would have a positive effect on the environment as they require a fraction of the land, water and feed of traditional livestock.
Here, we rustle up six bug recipes and rate them out of five for flavour.
Sweet chilli scorpion lollipop
BEFORE being tinned, all traces of poison are removed and the Asian forest scorpion undergoes a two-hour cooking process.
Push a skewer through the carapace so it comes out of the head.
Place it under the grill so that it heats through and loses some of the excess moisture. Turn it after two minutes and eat with a side dip of sweet chilli sauce.
The texture is revolting, like chomping down on a fishy paste encased in plastic. Yet the flavour is similar to lobster.
- Black Scorpion, 30g, , £13.99.
Rated: Two out of five
Grasshopper hash brown
IT might seem hopping mad, but you can add grasshoppers to hash browns for a perfect addition to your full English brekkie.
Start by peeling two potatoes – Maris Piper or King Edward are best – then grate them into a tea towel.
Bundle up the grated potato and squeeze any excess moisture out. Mix with one egg, plenty of salt and pepper, half a chopped onion and a handful of grasshoppers.
Shape a handful of the mixture into circular patties and flatten them on a chopping board. Fry in a pan until nicely browned on the bottom, then flip over and cook the other side.
The grasshoppers give the hash browns a little extra crunch and an earthy taste, but the wings tend to flake off during cooking which can be off-putting.
- Grasshoppers, 9g, from , £6.49.
Rated: Three out of five
‘Garden’ salad
IF you found a worm in a bag of salad leaves it would result in strongly-worded tweets to a customer services department. But the bugs in this dish, complement the earthy flavours of the radish and cress.
Chop up a head of gem lettuce into small pieces, slice four or five radishes into slivers and crumble over some feta. Trim the leaves of half a punnet of cress and sprinkle over the top. Add mealworms, cricket, locusts and lemon-flavoured chapulines.
Mix together two parts olive oil with one part red wine vinegar and whisk well. Dress the salad and season with salt and pepper.
The nut-flavoured insects are a great replacement for walnuts, while buffalo worms taste like bacon croutons and the chapulines add a citrus zing.
- The Mixed Critter pack, 20g, £6.49, and Lemon Chapulines, 20g, £6.49, both .
Rated: Four out of five
Deep fried tarantula
THE zebra tarantula undergoes a rigorous two-hour cooking process to remove any venom.
To make the batter, beat one egg in a bowl, sift 120g of all-purpose flour and ½ tsp of baking soda. Add a cup of iced water and mix. Discard the abdomen, which can explode while cooking, and coat the spider in batter. Deep fry until golden. Dust with paprika.
It tastes a little like bacon with a chewy texture.
- Tarantula, 30g, , £14.99.
Rated: Four out of five
Grilled banana with ants
THIS is a great way to introduce kids to edible creepy-crawlies.
Slice a banana in half, place under the grill with the flesh facing upwards, and cook until it starts to caramelise and soften.
Before serving, drizzle with honey and scatter over leafcutter ants, which look like chocolate chips until you clock their tiny legs. They add a satisfying crunch, just like a handful of nuts, and are ever so slightly bitter.
- Queen Leafcutter ants, 8g, , £3.49.
Rated: Five out of five
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Buffalo worm Bloody Mary
FILL a glass with ice, a stick of celery and a lemon wedge. Pour in a shot of vodka, tomato juice, a splash of Worcester sauce and a couple of drops of Tabasco.
Use a pestle and mortar to grind up some buffalo worms and add to the drink. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with a couple of worms.
The cocktail looks like a special effect from a ’70s horror film, but the worms taste like salty bacon.
- Buffalo worms, 45g, , £6.49.
Rated: Three out of five