Eating grasshoppers

H

halo2

Joined
Sep 13, 2005
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One goal I had for this summer was eating grasshoppers. Today was the day.

I started by gathering the bugs. I took a plastic shopping bag and walked the yard. When I got about 10 or 12, I started to figure out how to cook them.

I settled on a charcoal brazier type cooker. I found a flower pot and sunk it into the sand, then burrowed under it so that there was an air trough that ran up to the hole in the bottom of the pot. Sort of like a dakota fire hole. I filled the pot with some bits of charcoal and built a small fire in the pot. I used just enough twigs to get the coals going. The trough was built facing the breeze to give it a little extra air.

Once I had a good bed of coals but not a huge blaze going, I pulled one grasshopper out of the bag and dropped it in. I gave it a few minutes to cook/brown/blacken and then fished it out with two twigs.

When I had about 5 cooked, it was the moment of truth. The first one was a little wetter than I wanted. I was shooting for well done but no go on that one.

Here is a shot of some of the cooked ones. If you look closely, you can see one or two in the fire pot.

grasshoppers02.jpg


Here are some observations:

Grasshoppers are surprisingly tasty. Sort of nutty/grassy. The grass flavor comes through and I found them to be very palatable. I ended up eating about 20 plus one cricket. So they were tasty enough so that I went looking for more.

It could've been me, but the cricket was gritty. The grasshoppers were not.

When dropped into coals, they rarely escape. Only one of the 20 did. They actually try to burrow into the coals and die quickly. Their bellies expand. The legs and wings singe off.
 
I've wanted to do that. I think that incinerating them properly would be the key to making them palatable. When Les Straud was eating some of those roasted, fat grubs from the Australian outback (I think), they actually looked good.
 
I tried a grasshopper kebab in China once; they were so fried they tasted like chips...crispy and salty. All in all, not bad.
 
I wasn't sure how long to cook them. I wanted to roast them so there were no other flavors (like cooking oil, butter,etc.) so I got the plain flavor. Pretty good, surprisingly.
 
According to an article in the recent issue of Backpacker Magazine, a handful of roasted grasshoppers has about the same nutrition as a three ounce patty of lean ground beef (145 calories and 15 grams of protein). 10 large grasshoppers (weighing 3.5 ounces total) have 121 calories and 13 grams of protein. I've never eaten that many in a sitting, but have stuffed myself on white grubs before, and they were not bad at all. Between the grubs and other small critters (snails, minnows, mollusks, snakes) and plants I ate, I was the only one of my group who did not lose weight over the week long course. In fact, IIRC, I gained 1# while most lost 5#. I think a part of that could be attributed to my increased hydration too. Swamp water isn't that bad if you strain it and don't look at it too closely.
 
Hoppers are fantastic. Try catching a bunch, freeze them till dead, remove extra bits, toss in teriyaki sauce, and then add to a stir-fry. I like hoppers crispy but I've eaten crickets raw and even several live and they aren't bad. Spicy meal-worms are also a treat and BBQ'ed scorpion is amazing if you ever get a chance to try either.
I haven't graduated to larvae of any kind and I'm still not sure if I could stomach it. Still, I'd at least give it a try. I figure that's probably the last rung in the ladder to being able to eat practically anything.
 
Like crickets, you don't eat the heads, right? And can they be eaten raw?

EDIT: Blais said yes on the raw it seems. :)
 
Raining said:
Like crickets, you don't eat the heads, right? And can they be eaten raw?

EDIT: Blais said yes on the raw it seems. :)
Click to expand...

I dunno if you aren't supposed to eat the heads though I have heard that people generally remove them prior to cooking. They never did me any harm... that I know of.
 
Don't eat them raw if you can avoid it. Some carry parasites that can hitch hike into your stomach. Really awesome that you like them halo. I just ate a bunch of bess beetle grubs a few weeks ago. I tear the heads off too cause in my opinion there isn't much protein in them (i dissected bee brains for hours at a time for one of my old jobs), at least, enough to screw up the texture of the main body. Try them with soy sauce!!!
 
Whoa...are we talking the big black and yellow locust type grasshopper? the ones as big as your little finger. Those just look nasty. Or are we talking the smaller black ones with the red markings?
 
Joezilla said:
Don't eat them raw if you can avoid it. Some carry parasites that can hitch hike into your stomach. Really awesome that you like them halo. I just ate a bunch of bess beetle grubs a few weeks ago. I tear the heads off too cause in my opinion there isn't much protein in them (i dissected bee brains for hours at a time for one of my old jobs), at least, enough to screw up the texture of the main body. Try them with soy sauce!!!
Click to expand...

Ah, I should have mentioned that the live and raw crickets were farm-raised and at least unlikely to have parasites. Any wild bugs I've eaten, save some red ants, have been cooked.
 
definitely grassy-crunchy, then flakey, then kind of a watery sweet. I guess you are what you eat, eh? Around here the high desert grasshoppers are alot less paletable.
 
I have never tried any bug's, I've heard they are mostly good if cooked , I would have to be one hungry sum b!®¢h before I would eat one of those big azz bear grils grubs tho. I've eaten many armadillo,racoon,opossums,even a cat, but I'm not big on squshy slimy bug inerds.


On a side note wail we are on the subject or weird food there was an Asian food store in northern kalif that used to sell grubs and meal worm's and a couple other oddities. The funny thing was is that they sold meat, and it had a dog and cat grooming place connected to it, owned by the same people, and they used to feed the stray cat's out back. Now I don't know if any cats were coming up missing or not but it's a bad image for shore lol. Sorry for the ramble
 
Mmmmm roast grasshopper... ;)

This is funny, I was outside catching grasshoppers earlier today to feed my toads and
got to thinking "you know, if I was starving these things would be edible if I fried a bunch up"

Supposedly, from what I heard they're very nutritious, judging from how fat the toads
are this must be true.
 
Joezilla said:
Don't eat them raw if you can avoid it. Some carry parasites that can hitch hike into your stomach. Really awesome that you like them halo. I just ate a bunch of bess beetle grubs a few weeks ago. I tear the heads off too cause in my opinion there isn't much protein in them (i dissected bee brains for hours at a time for one of my old jobs), at least, enough to screw up the texture of the main body. Try them with soy sauce!!!
Click to expand...

I have ... and it's good.:thumbup: Also good with fish sauce.:thumbup::thumbup:

The heads? I can take 'em or leave 'em.

As for grubs, it seems to depend on what they eat. Wood borers taste rather like wood paste to me; not my favorites, at all.

Ants are also quite good, as are their eggs.
 
hmm. I like the wood borers. Makes me think of peanut butter and almonds. I have a bottle of fish sauce, I will really need to try that. Can you use it in beef jerky too?
 
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