Cicadas!

Watchful

Watchful

Joined
Dec 8, 2004
Messages
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Here in Northern Illinois, we're in the midst of the 17-year Brood 13 hatching.

Imagine these guys all over your trees, fences, mailboxes, gates--basically, anything vertical. If you stand still long enough, they'll start landing on you.

courtship.jpg


They're hatching all over the place, and while one of my trees has only a few shells on them, some of my trees are literally swarming with these guys.

Yesterday was the first day they've started to sing. Sing, my pretties! Imagine this, all afternoon long, at about 70 dB.

Some of the birds have been pretty busy eating these guys up, but they're too big for our local robins to deal with.

I've had a few friends in from out of town who have never seen cicadas before, and they're pretty impressed with the sheer numbers in our area. I thought some of you might be interested.

Little Watchful and Lesser Watchful have been very pleased with these guys:

Little Watchful has gone from complete apprehension over these big bugs to happily picking them up, letting them walk on him, and placing them gently on trees.

Lesser Watchful, who's two years old, has been collecting quite a few of the dead ones off the lawn and sidewalk and placing them in the storage compartment of his little Hot Cycle. I have no idea what he's planning to do with them, but I'm sure they'll startle me next year when I unpack his bike and find these things pouring out all over me.

How are you Brood XIII hosts doing? Any pictures? I need to go out and take some.
 
Coolest "bug" ever...I used to collect their shells off of grass, tree trunks, etc when I was a kid...and they fly so slow they were fun to catch if they ever came down from the trees.

Hmm..since this is the survival forum, and they are a very abundant natural source of protein..I wonder if there is a good way to catch them in bulk? And how would they taste? :D
 
Catching them in bulk is easy right now: grab a basket, and brush your arm down my ash tree!

Local papers are posting recipes, but I gather they taste a little like unflavored Cheetos. You might enjoy eating mail packing peanuts (which are edible, by the way, but not terribly nutritious)... if so, cicadas would be a pretty good way to do it.

As a survival skill, it might be tough waiting another 17 years... the annual ones are not nearly as numerous, and therefore harder to catch. You're right though... VERY cool.
 
No sign of them yet here in Bartlett. I'm sure it won't be long before we are swarmed.

Jason
 
tatsu said:
No sign of them yet here in Bartlett. I'm sure it won't be long before we are swarmed.
Click to expand...
Jason,

How new is your area? Bartlett has undergone a lot of expansion and development, and if your landscaping is under 17 years old, you might not get any...until 2024.
 
Hey Guys....

These are friendly bugs.. I really enjoy them over the summer..

Haven't heard nor seen any yet here (S.Ontario)

Waiting in anticipation!!

As for eating them.. There are alot of people that do....

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
I was living in Texas years ago and those bugs were everywhere
and the noise they made was like a never ending scream going though my brain, like to drove me carazy.
 
I was in New Mexico during a hatching. Got used to the screaming and collected a lot of the bug "shells". I remember not being able to sleep when the swarming was over. It was too quiet!
 
I didn't realize that these guys had different cycles in different areas. We just had ours in central and southern Indiana a couple of years ago and it was amazing. The first time I went camping that particular spring was fairly early, and they were just starting to sing in a few places. I thought I was going crazy because I kept hearing this weird UFO noise off in the distance. A few weeks later I went camping again and they were out in full force. We had a ton of fun playing with them. One of my buddies tied a piece of thread to one and flew it like a kite. My favorite part was lying there looking up into the tree tops and seeing the way the sunlight sparkled on and through their wings. I seem to recall hearing that they taste like shrimp.
 
Hey watchful...nothing in my part of Chicago yet.

I do remember 34 years ago when I was a lad...they were everywhere. I can't even fully explain it to people who did not see it...everywhere.
 
Cicada Recipes, Courtesy of Jenna Jadin, University of Maryland

*Disclaimer: the University of Maryland does not advocate eating cicadas without first consulting with your doctor. While many people do eat cicadas, there is no guarantee that they are safe for every person to eat. As with all foods, it is possible that certain individuals will have allergic reactions to substances within the cicada.

Before You Begin

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 reach. The best way to do this is to simply go outside with a brown paper bag and start scooping them in. You can cook with them immediately, or refrigerate them (they will remain alive but will mature much more slowly) or freeze them.

Keep in mind that freezing 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 that 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.

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 the flour

1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions:

Marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for several hours. (Note: You can skip this step and go directly to the egg step instead.)

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

Yield:

4 main dish servings

El Chirper Tacos

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter or peanut oil

1/2 pound newly emerged cicadas

2 serrano chilies, raw, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp ground pepper or to taste

1/2 tsp cumin

3 tsp taco seasoning mix

1 handful cilantro, chopped

Taco shells, to serve

Sour cream

Shredded cheddar cheese

Shredded lettuce

Directions

1. Heat the butter or oil in a frying pan and fry the cicadas for 10 minuts, or until cooked through.

2. Remove from pan and roughly chop into 1/4-inch cubes/ Place back in pan.

3. Add the chopped onions, chilies and tomato, season with salt, and fry for another 5 minutes on medium-low heat.

4. Sprinkle with ground pepper, cumin and oregano to taste.

5. Serve in taco shells and garnish with cilantro, sour cream, lettuce and cheddar cheese.

Cicada Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped rhubarb

1 cup fresh cicadas, washed and any hard parts removed

1 1/3 cups white sugar

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter

1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch double crust pie

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle one-fourth of it over pastry in pie plate. Heap rhubarb over this mixture. Sprinkle cicadas in amongst the rhubarb. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and flour. Dot with small pieces of butter. Cover with top crust.

3. Place pie on lowest rack in oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes.

Yield:

Makes 1 pie (8 servings)
 
Here's a couple of pics.

All are from the trees in my front; they're distributed all over the trees pretty much evenly as to what you see here.
 
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