Cicadas will be a problem this year to many gardeners. Yet they might be a new ingredient in this Spring and summers' harvest dinners. Surprisingly these pests can make for some pretty good eating.
Regular contributor and cookbook author Tejal Rao wrote about these critters in yesterdays' New York Times Food section.It is an edible bug much like grasshoppers, crickets and even -ewww- termites. Around the world it's considered normal to eat them in a variety of different ways. here in the US not so much. American tend to sensationalize or trivialize it, seeing bugs as a source of cheap protein. They're OK if you're on a camping trips and you've run out of food.Yet some chefs here in the States will be happy thanks to the double season of them in the Midwest and Southeast. There will be a whopping trillion (!!!) of them within the next six weeks. Surprisingly they're a cousin of a lobster and can be prepared in much the same way according to Tad Yankowski, an entomologist at Missouri Botanical Gardens. People who have shellfish allergies are also advised not to eat them. He himself enjoys them in a scampi, claiming anything you can do with shrimp you can also do with cicadas.
Other enthusiasts feel the same way. Joseph Yoon, a bug enthusiast is going to forage big time for an event that features hasn't happened since 1803, featuring two regional broods. Mr. Yoon is also a chef that offers up all sorts of insect dishes at his business Brooklyn Bugs.He combines cicadas with ramp to create Kim chi. The insects are left whole and intact in their cracking shells.They're then slowly infused with a spicy fermenting juice.After they're served with tofu and warm rice.He also fries them to make tempura, folds them into Spanish tortillas with potato and onion and bakes them with cheese into casseroles with cicada stuffed pasta shells.what do they taste and feel like to those wanting to try them? According to the entomologist Mr. Yankowski they're sort of like a tiny soft shelled crab a crunchy shell with a soft meat interior.The flavor is slightly woody thanks to a steady diet of sap from tree roots. This happens because they spend most of their lives underground. Foragers need to get them while their young and meaty otherwise their exoskeletons will grow, leaving them more with a shell.
Cicadas are not for everyone.If you;re into trying bugs, then go and forage. If not just admire them for their lacy wings and big orange eyes.
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