With the emergence of billions of 17-year cicadas in the Brood X group – the Great Eastern Brood, the largest of all cicada broods – just a few weeks away, in mid-May through late June, media of every description are rushing to get in on the buzz about the buzzing insects.
A popular media topic will be eating cicadas, which taps into the “eww” factor of reader interest.
Just as I have with previous cicadas’ emergences in Pennsylvania, I will be joining in the media feeding frenzy over the coming insect explosion and keeping you up to the minute on all things cicada, including the eating of the bug-eyed critters.
I’ll have some food for thought on that topic in a bit, but first a couple cautionary disclosures.
In 2004, during the previous emergence of Brood X cicadas, researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering, found significant levels of mercury in the insects. They detected levels of mercury in some cicadas nearly as high as those in fish for which the government issues consumption warnings.
“Our results indicate that there are measurable and, in some instances, significant levels of mercury in the cicadas, with the majority of the concentrations ranging from 0.02 - 0.20 parts per million, but some at higher levels,” Tim Keener, then a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering, said at the time.
“We recommend that humans, especially pregnant women and young children, limit the amount of cicadas they eat as a result of these preliminary findings. We do not believe that eating a small number of these insects will result in irreparable harm, but mercury exposure may harm an unborn baby or young child’s developing nervous system.
In subsequent work with the insects the researchers found that mercury concentrations were greater in male cicadas.
Mercury concerns aside, anyone with a shellfish allergy will want to avoid contact with cicadas, which are in the same family as shellfish.
If you’re still up for some cicada crunching, let’s start with some recipes that I offered back in 2013, during the emergence of Brood II across parts of central Pennsylvania.
Wild Onion Cicada Nibblers
Ingredients
- 1 cup freshly emerged, blanched cicadas
- 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 4 tablespoons finely chopped wild onion stalks (scallion stalks may be substituted)
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons sea salt
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 1 cup salted butter
Directions
Marinade the cicadas in the Worcestershire sauce for at least 45 minutes.
Beat the eggs. Blend in the wild onion.
Mix the sea salt and black pepper into the flour.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over low heat.
Strain the cicadas from the Worcestershire sauce.
Increase the heat under the frying pan to medium
Drop the cicadas in the egg-wild onion blend. Stir.
Pull the cicadas from the egg-wild onion blend and roll in the flour-sea salt-black pepper mix.
Saute the cicadas gently until they are golden brown.
The 17-year cicadas about to emerge by the billions can be made into a wide range of edibles, including a crunchy chocolate treat. (Marcus Schneck photo)
Chocolate Covered Cicadas
Ingredients
- 24 freshly emerged, blanched cicadas
- 11.5 ounces, milk chocolate chips
Directions
Place the cicadas on parchment paper and dry roast for 10 minutes at 420 degrees. Allow them to cool.
Melt the milk chocolate chips over low heat. Stirring frequently.
Dip each cicada in the melted milk chocolate, covering it completely.
Place individually on parchment paper on cookie sheet.
Place in freezer for 10-15 minutes to harden.
Preparation tips
“Newly hatched cicadas, called tenerals, are considered best for eating because their shells have not hardened,” according to the 15-recipe Cicada-licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas, which is available online from the University of Maryland Cicadamaniacs.
“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 start scooping them in.
“They should be blanched (boiled for 4-5 minutes) 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 roast, as the consistency of the cicada may change and make them inappropriate for dishes which call for fresh cicadas.
“If you are unable to get any tenerals, then mature females are the next best thing. Adult males have very hollow abdomens and will not be much of a mouthful, but the females are filled with fat.
“Just be sure to remove all the hard parts, such as wings and legs before you use the adults. These parts will not harm you, but they are also not very tasty.”
Among the 15 recipes in the booklet are Cicada Dumplings, El Chirper Tacos and Banana Cicada Bread.
Another source of cicada recipes is the book Cooking with Cicadas by R. Scott Frothingham, an entrepreneur and family cook in Vienna, Virginia. He gathered 18 recipes for the book including the following.
Cicada Frittata
Serves four to six
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 large red or green pepper, diced
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 pound potatoes, shredded (hash browns)
- 8 eggs, whisked
- 1/2 cup blanched cicadas, diced
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Paprika
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Melt butter in an oven-safe frying pan over medium heat.
Stir in olive oil and onion, and cook until the onion is translucent (about 10 minutes).
Stir in the potatoes, salt and pepper to taste and continue cooking about 10 minutes (occasionally stirring and flipping).
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and water.
Add red pepper and cicadas to frying pan, mix in.
Pour eggs into the skillet, and reduce heat to low. Sprinkle cheese evenly on top. Cover and cook five minutes.
Transfer the uncovered frying pan to the preheated oven. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until eggs are no longer runny.
Lightly sprinkle with paprika (as garnish), cut into eight pieces and serve.
Pasta a la Cicada
Serves four
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound dry linguine
- 24 blanched cicadas
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup of fresh basil leaves
Instructions:
Boil linguine per instructions on package (al dente).
Melt butter in a small saute pan on medium heat.
Add olive oil, garlic, basil and cicadas and saute until the cicadas are slightly brown and crisp (and the basil wilts).
Serve over pasta
Caramel Cicada Crunch
Ingredients:
- 1 cup brown sugar; packed
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 4 quarts fresh popped corn
- 1 cup dry roasted cicadas (see page 9), chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
Place popcorn in large roasting pan (five quart) with chopped cicadas and blend together. Set aside. Preheat oven to 250oF.
In heavy sauce pan, mix sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Stir over medium heat until boiling. Continue to boil, without stirring, for five minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla, then baking soda (it will foam up). Pour over popped corn and cicadas; mix well to coat. Place in oven for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes while baking.
Cool, break apart and serve or store in a tightly sealed container.
In the online version of Outdoor Life magazine Tim MacWelch offered these ideas:
“The Old Fashioned: This simple snack involves skewering and roasting cicadas on a slender greenwood stick over a fire for five minutes or on a metal skewer in the oven for 7 minutes at 400F. Brush on a little oil or butter toward the end so that any salt or spices you add will stick to the cicadas.
“Cicada Pizza: Scatter some blanched cicadas across your favorite pie halfway through the normal pizza baking time, and the bugs will crisp up without drying out.
If you have a cicada recipe you’ve tried in the past and would like to share with our readers, contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.
"eat" - Google News
April 06, 2021 at 04:01PM
https://ift.tt/3dGZ0gb
Ready to eat your way through the coming cicada explosion? How-to and recipes - pennlive.com
"eat" - Google News
https://ift.tt/33WjFpI
https://ift.tt/2VWmZ3q
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Ready to eat your way through the coming cicada explosion? How-to and recipes - pennlive.com"
Post a Comment