How to Eat Cicadas
Recipes for cooking and preparing the other (other) white meat.
By Cassie Tucker
Art: Cassie Tucker
After spending the last 17 years underground, billions of Brood X cicadas have emerged across the eastern US, and parts of the midwest, to mate, lay eggs, and die. Although some people are dreading this noisy month-long bug orgy, most are embracing the rare phenomenon, treating it like the return of a childhood friend.
In Maryland, one of the east coast states that will be experiencing the brunt of the brood, residents fondly praised the bugs when being interviewed by a local news station.
"As a kid, I remember stepping on them and hearing them in the trees. I'm anxious to see them all out. It's supposed to be a strong year," Maryland grandmother Terry Riordon told WBAL-TV as she pointed out the bugs to her grandchildren.
Another Marylander, Herbert Butler, raved about how the cicadas make a mean fish bait.
“The bass were just loving them”, he said, while mimicking the fish eagerly snatching up the bugs that fell into the water.
These bass might be on to something, because the bugs are actually packed with a ton of nutrition. Although eating insects is not taboo in many parts of the world — sometimes they’re even considered delicacies — Americans may initially recoil at the idea of eating a bug. But if you like shrimp, lobster, or crab, you’re already eating members of the Anthropoda class, of which cicadas and other insects are part of as well.
The cicadas’ all-plant diet gives them a nutty, asparagus-like flavor with a texture similar to shrimp. They are also friendly to dietary restrictions, being that they are gluten-free, low-carb, low-fat, and high in protein. Additionally, normalizing the consumption of insects benefits the environment by reducing the heavy carbon footprint of meat production, and combats food insecurity as global resources become increasingly scarce.
But before you start plucking them off the trees and into your mouths, like any other protein they require some preparation.
In 2004, the last time this 17-year brood surfaced, entomologist Jenna Jardin and The University of Maryland published a guide to cooking and preparing the bugs. In the guide, Jardin recommended using newly hatched cicadas for the best results, because their shells have not yet hardened, improving the texture.
If you can’t get a hold of these and have to use adults, she recommended you remove the harder, less tasty parts such as the wings and legs. They should be blanched (boiled for 4-5 minutes) which will get rid of any bacteria that is living on or in them. If you feel badly about throwing them directly into a boiling abyss, you can pop them in the freezer for a few minutes to humanely put them to sleep.
Since pesticide accumulation cannot be monitored on wild insects, Jardin advised enjoying them in moderation, and warned against consuming the bugs if you have nut or shellfish allergies. You’ll also want to avoid the ones that have a white fungus on their butts.
So if you feel like taking advantage of this rare treat, we’ve compiled some of the tastiest ways to eat cicadas and incorporate them into your diet.
Cicada Dumplings
Ingredients
20 Chinese black mushrooms, soaked and de-stemmed
6 egg whites
4 oz cicadas, wings removed and pre-boiled for 5 minutes
1/2 oz cooked Chinese ham, cut into 1"-long, 1/16"-thick strips
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp MSG (optional)
2 cups chicken broth
Directions
Mince 2 oz cicadas and 1 oz fat pork separately, then mix in bowl. Add 1/8 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp MSG. Stir until firm. Divide into 10 portions for mushroom stuffing.
Squeeze excess water from mushrooms. Put in bowl, add a little broth and steam for 30 minutes. Remove and squeeze out excess liquid. Place in dish, stem sides up, and sprinkle with cornstarch.
Place one portion cicada stuffing in middle of a mushroom and cover with another mushroom, black side up, to make a stuffed mushroom pouch. Repeat until 10 pouches are done.
Mince remaining pork and cicadas separately, then mix in a bowl. Add 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp MSG. Stir until firm. Make 20 balls in the shape of a cicada.
Beat egg whites. Grease pan. Make a thin small round pancake with one tbsp egg white. Place a cicada ball in the middle and wrap pancake around. Pinch ball to form head and body of the cicada. Fry for 1/2 minute and remove.
Put two strips ham in head. Repeat until 20 “cicadas” are made.
Put mushroom pouches and shrimp cicadas on plate. Steam for one minute over high heat.
Remove and place separately in tureen. Bring stock to boil and add remaining salt.
Pour stock slowly into tureen and serve.
Serves 4 to 6
Recipe Source: Cicada Crew UMD
Cicada Ceviche
Ingredients
30 to 40 cicadas
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from 2 to 3 limes)
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 medium jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 medium avocado
Tortilla chips, for serving (optional)
Directions
Chop the cicadas into 1/2-inch pieces and place in a large bowl.
Add the lemon juice, lime juice, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and salt, and toss to combine.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.
Just before serving, dice the avocado, add to the ceviche, and gently toss to combine. Serve with tortilla chips.
Recipe Source: The Kitchn
Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Resqgal
Cicada and Saffron Risotto
Ingredients
1 medium onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
12 to 15 cicadas, wings plucked (pre-boiled)
1 cup of Arborio rice
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
4 to 5 strands of saffron
Directions
In a medium pot, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and add the onions and celery. Sauté until soft.
Add the Arborio rice. Coat in the olive oil and lightly toast the rice. Do not brown.
Add chicken stock to cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir constantly until liquid begins to absorb. Add more stock a little at a time and continue to stir and reduce the mixture until the rice becomes tender.After half of the stock is used, add the saffron strands and continue stirring and adding more stock.
When the rice is nearly done, add the cicadas. Add any remaining liquid and continue stirring until the liquid is absorbed, and the cicadas appear parboiled.
Remove from the heat, and carefully stir in Parmesan cheese.
Serves 4
Recipe Source: Richmond Magazine
Cicada Kimchi Over Rice
Ingredients
1 blanched cicada nymph per appetizer
1 kenip leaf per appetizer
About 1 tablespoon of rice per appetizer
Kimchi paste, green onion, cucumber and mint to taste
Directions
Combine kimchi paste, green onion, and cicada in a bowl and set aside to ferment (fermenting time is to preference, but for maximum flavor 1-4 days is ideal).
Top each kenip leaf with rice, cicada kimchi, garnish with cucumber and mint, and enjoy!
Recipe Source: Brooklyn Bugs
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
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
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.
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.
Makes 1 pie (8 servings)
Recipe Source: The University of Maryland
More weird articles:
