Finally, I ate some of my mealworms. I stir fried some onions, garlic & red pepper, scooched it all to the side of the pan, dumped in a good sized handful of mealworms and cooked em good. After a while they started popping, I think I should've stopped frying earlier before the innards popped out and disappeared, but I didn't want any "movement" on my plate.
How were they? Well, as I said I think they were a bit overcooked so they were chewy, mostly chitin, like the exoskeleton part of a shrimp except thinner. I've read that they have a nutty taste and I would say that was correct. The overall recipe, which based entirely on my culinary expertise of whatever edible scraps I could scrounge from the drawers of my fridge (my garden's behind & don't have anything edible there yet), sucked fairly badly.
To get over the ick factor, I had done a fair amount of poking around the internet and discovering that insects are a very normal part of people's diets in many parts of the world. Many, many. And the other thing is I just thought of how much easier to kill and eat a bug than an animal. Lastly, I was just plain sick of having them around.
Now, I know full well some of you will never be content without the gory details... you know who you are... zombie fans & the like... So here's how it "went down". I picked sorted and washed the little devils, and deliberately decided to forgo any gracious formalities, such as putting them in the freezer to freeze/stun them first. I prayed God to deliver their souls to the netherworld, far away from the place I hope to go, then I dumped 'em in the sizzling fry pan. Be prepared for the startle reflex en masse. They're hard to kill... kinda like zombies come to think of it... They did not go peaceably, put it that way. Maybe I'd freeze em next time if I was in a less disgustable mood, that is.
If you think this all sounds primitive and crass, I'd suggest you pursue it with Wild E as he started it all with his intriguing post "Eat Bugs Not Cats". I only followed through with the ideas that were implanted in my tender mind when I was exposed to the material which aforementioned WE posted therein. Blame him.
This experiment began in Dec with a purchase at a pet store, it took this long to go full circle - worms, larvae, beetles, eggs, worms, fry pan.
Amen.
Good post and follow up.
Some do not bother to kill or cook them first, but that is not me either. Might try some in a kraft dinner type setting next time myself, see it as a meat alternative.
Thanks for the feedback 😀
I commend you for that brave step ! I too think I could get over the ick factor easier than the gut wrenching of killing an animal but I am opting to start with animals and work my way up to mealworms : )
lol...I'll stick to plants
A quote from the character Jack played buy Ed Asner in Out of the Woods "There is no sauce in the world like hunger.".
I can't say I have tried meal worms (or any other kind of worm for that matter) and I admire your curiosity and bravery martha.
When your belly is rubbing your backbone a lot of the 'ick' factor gets laid to rest. I have the good fortune to be curious about odd (to western culture) foods and have tried some off the beaten path meals, usually with quite pleasant results. I have even tried live ants before (pretty acidic & crunchy) and wouldn't hesitate to scarf down a few dozen in short order IF my life depended on obtaining calories quickly. If ants can feed another omnivore (bears) they can feed me too. Hmmm... caterpillar casserole? Most insects are very high in protein so a fist full would probably deliver the protein punch of a steak sandwich. If it comes down to that I'd do it. Reptiles are definitely on the menu for me during SHTF. BTW, NO! it doesn't taste like chicken. It tastes like snake or gator which are both quite tasty if prepared correctly. Lizards would be a very short step is my guess. Never ever!!! eat reptiles cooked rare.
A huge problem with our current society is most people don't know the difference between "want" and "need". They want a New York strip but need protein.
BTR
Than= I’d rather be rich than poor.
Then= I first became hungry then I ate.
There = She is there now.
Their = They have their things.
They're = They're going to the mall.
To = They came to the house.
Too = That's too bad.
That's awesome Martha!
Good for you.
The freezer will kill them which will stop the squirm factor. I was told that slow roasted with a with a few spices and then add to a "dish" works better but I have yet to try it.
Wild E... thankyou for your comments... but... I wouldn't wanna wreck a nice pot of Kraft Din-din!! Why mess with perfection??! ;]
BTR sounds like you've had many culinary adventures, and I believe you when you say that there's nothing like true hunger to suppress the ick factor.
Honestly, I haven't completely overcome my revulsion. I do have some worms and beetles still left - I might just cook em for the dogs.
I'm thinking that it would be good to mix the mealworms with long grain rice , maybe roll em into meatballs. What about this idea... Cook your rice, while that's happening slow roast your frozen worms with a few spices as oldschool suggests. Finely chop some onion, celery and garlic. Saute that. maybe add a bit of shredded carrots. Then take the rice, mealworms and sauted veggies, mix them together and add an egg for the glueing effect. Then form them into balls or patties, fry and serve in pita or a bun garnished with guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce type fixin's. If that's not enough to supress the gag reflex, try playing loud music when you eat and wash 'em down with glugs of wine.
I think one important lesson this taught me was that it took a lot longer than I imagined to bring them through a full cycle. Having said that however, I do believe that the harvests could rise exponentially and you could soon be rearing a crop bi-weekly or more. One of the problems is that there was a wide discrepancy of time between when the first ones reached the beetle stage vs the later ones, and the beetles will eat the worms if they don't get separated. I would have a lot of tweaking to do to make it a much more efficient system.
I may have missed an earlier convo.
Are you growing worms and beetles at the same time in the same space as part of permaculture environment? I didn't catch that inference until the last post.
If so, was it just to see if it was possible to produce your own protein?
(ps, I would have definitely froze them first to kill them gently but I also couldn't feed the missus' snake live mice either 😳 )
Dang, you ole softie you. Who'da thunk you were so tenderhearted toward worms & rodents??? You won't be when they're eatin' your supplies!
The whole thing started with Wild E's post "Eat bugs not cats". You can look it up. The convo developed a bit further on the super-secret Women's Forum. Maybe I should copy some of the info from there so you'll have a better picture:
My thoughts on insects as food:
1. Better something than nothing. I can't at this point, raise bigger livestock, yet I didn't want to let that be an excuse to do nothing. Mealworms were something I could do within the city and at the coldest time of the year.
2. If not for my consumption, then for my pets. Eventually all of our food storage will run out, we will have to then rely on our own resourcefulness to produce or collect food. I want to give myself and my ole pooches the best chance we can have to survive an extreme food shortage.
3. It's cleaner food than commercial beef or chicken or pork, or even fish. Yes, our food has been contaminated by the unhealthy practices of modern agri-business. Our meat is full of hormones, antibiotics, and just generally coming from unhealthy animals due to confinement production. Mealworms can be fed on oatmeal and carrot ends. No antibiotics or hormones.
4. It's kinder than eating store bought meats - confinement production of animals - pigs in barns filled with ammonia in the air, never seeing a blade of grass or feeling sunshine on their backs, or mud... that's a cruel life. Same with chickens, the last couple of chickens I bought at Co-op had broken wings and I couldn't help but think of the hidden camera shows which revealed workers in chicken barns abusing them for their own amusement ie swinging the birds around in the air, etc. Why did those birds come to me with broken wings?
5. It's easier to face the prospect of killing them versus killing an animal with a capacity for affection.
6. It's not unusual, many peoples of the earth use insects as a regular part of their diet. They are sold in markets and served in restaurants widely around the world.
7. It's way more efficient and ecologically sound. Raising beef is a very wasteful form of protein production. A tremendous amount of feed has to be supplied for every pound of protein harvested. Insects are way more efficient at changing plant matter into protein.
8. It's more equalizing. We have been the beneficiaries of material abundance while elsewhere in the globe peoples eke out a minimal subsistence. It's probably good for us to share in the simple foods of a meager subsistence, at least up to a point. (Pass the taco sauce please!)
9. There's a certain security in insect eating. If the crops get eaten by the hoppers or june bugs or potato beetles, all is not lost, we can eat them!
10. A bug farm is portable, if you had to leave your primary residence quickly, you probably couldn't take Betsy & her calf, but maybe you could grab your tupperware meal worm farm. Something's better than nothing.
11. No sick animals, no vet bills, no mucking out stalls, etc.
12. For the vegetarians out there (and I'm a part time vegetarian, used to be full time), unless the science has changed, we need 8 essential amino acids to make a complete protein. Rice doesn't have all 8, but combined with beans it does. But, that's besides the point, because I can't grow rice and my stores will run out. Quinoa does have a full compliment of amino acids making it a complete protein for humans, and I'd like to experiment with growing it, however it's likely I wouldn't be able to provide enough anyways. So, while there's vegetarian ways of providing protein, I'm not confident that I could make a complete go of it if tshtf. Better to diversify a bit.
13. If things get so miserable the neighbor wants to eat your dog, offer him a nice big bowl of mealworm goulash, then go hide your dog, pluck a bunch of his hair out so he looks diseased, and pray for the best.
Now anyone with a good mealworm goulash recipe, please report for duty! ;}
Here's a recent article about the UN advocating insects as food:
I am also in the process of growing the full cycle of a mealworm colony for the purpose of learning, chick feed but also human use. Great points review Martha!
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/