Earth Worm Stir Fry
Hey Bearridge,
Now that group sounds almost as diverse as this here Southern Paddler group!!
I was thinking on your Earthworm stir fry, and I saw some grubs fried up one of the cooking shows called "unusual food finds". We did carry a book called "Entertaining with Insects", but it is out of print now. Folks seemed to like it for lots of different reasons. Some like a good gag gift, and some think it is a good survival cookbook. It is out of print , but I was looking around for you an earthworm recipe, and found the following recipes and information on insects that I thought you might want to share with your friends :
If Americans could tolerate more insects (bugs) in what they eat, farmers could significantly reduce the amount of pesticides applied each year. It is better to eat more insects and less pesticide residue. If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would relax the limit for insects and their parts (double the allowance) in food crops, U.S. farmers could significantly apply less pesticide each year. Fifty years ago, it was common for an apple to have worms inside, bean pods with beetle bites and cabbage with worm eaten leaves. Most Americans don't realize that they are probably already eating a pound or two of insects each year. One cannot see them, since they have been ground up into tiny pieces in such items as strawberry jams, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, applesauce, frozen chopped broccoli, etc. Actually, these insect parts make some food products more nutritious. An issue of the Food Insects Newsletter reports that 80 percent of the world's population eats insects intentionally and 100 percent eat them unintentionally.
The nutritional content of edible insects and other animals based on a 100 gram serving are as follows:
Energy(Kcal) Protein(g) Iron(mg) Thiamine(mg) Riboflavin(mg) Niacin
Termite(Macrotermes subhyanlinus) 613 14.2 0.75 0.13 1.15 0.95
Caterpillar(Usata terpsichore) 370 28.2 35.5 3.67 1.91 5.2
Weevil(Rhynchophorus phoenicis) 562 6.7 13.1 3.02 2.24 7.8
Beef(Lean ground) 219 27.4 3.5 0.09 0.23 6.0
Fish(Broiled cod) 170 28.5 1.0 0.08 0.11 3.0
Some tasty insect recipes obtained from the Iowa State Department of Entomology EntoGopher are as follows:
Rootworm Beetle Dip
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1-1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/2 cup reduced calorie mayonnaise
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon onion, chopped
1-1/2 tsp. dill weed
1-1/2 tsp. Beau Monde
1 cup dry-roasted rootworm beetles
Blend first three ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and chill.
Banana Worm Bread
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 eggs
1/4 cup dry-roasted armyworms
Mix together all ingredients. Bake in greased loaf pan at 350 deg F for about one hour.
Chocolate Chirpie Chip Cookies
2-1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 12-ounce pkg. chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dry-roasted crickets
Preheat oven to 375 deg F. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture and insects, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded measuring teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Bug Blox
2 large packages gelatin
2 1/2 cups boiling water (do not add cold water)
Stir boiling water into gelatin. Dissolve completely.
Stir in dry-roasted leafhoppers.
Pour mixture slowly into 13 x 9 inch pan. Chill at least three hours. BLOX will be firm after one hour, but may be difficult to remove from pan. Cutting blox: dip bottom pan in warm water 15 seconds to loosen gelatin. Cut shapes with cookie cutters all the way through gelatin. Lift with index finger or metal spatula. If blox stick, dip pan again for a few seconds.
Source: Eating Insects, Bees Wax, Newsletter for ESA's Youth Member, February 1994
Fried Green Tomato Hornworms
Yield: 4 servings
What does a tomato hornworm taste like? Well, what would you taste like if you'd been stuffing yourself solely with tomato leaves for the better part of a month? Hornworms are ridiculously chlorophyll-rich. They taste great with just about any summer vegetable, but my favorite recipe draws inspiration from the cuisine of the Whistle Stop Cafe, that fictitious Alabama diner made famous by novelist Fanny Flagg.
"You'll think you died and gone to heaven," boasts Flagg of her recipe. To which I add, "If you do go to heaven, ask the Powers That Be to keep the tomato hornworms out of my vegetable patch."
3 tablespoons olive oil
16 tomato hornworms
4 medium green tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
Salt and pepper to taste
White cornmeal
In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil. Then lightly fry the hornworms, about 4 minutes, taking care not to rupture the cuticles of each insect under high heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Season tomato rounds with salt and pepper, then coat with cornmeal on both sides.
In a large skillet, fry tomatoes until lightly browned on both sides
Top each round with 2 fried tomato hornworms.
Garnish the paired hornworms with a single basil leaf.
From the Eat a bug cookbook.
and last but not least:
The following recipes are from: Entertaining with Insects: The Original Guide to Insect Cookery By Ronald L. Taylor and Barbara J. Carter. 1992. Salutek Publ. Co. Yorba Linda. 160 pages.
Mealworm Cookies
Ingredients:
550 ml (1-1/4 cups?) all-purpose flour
5 ml (1 tsp.) baking soda
5 ml (1 tsp.) salt
250 ml (1 cup) softened butter
175 ml (3/4 cup) white sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) crumbled dried mealworms
175 ml (3/4 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
5 ml (1 tsp.) vanilla
2 eggs
360 grams (1-1/2 cups) chocolate chips
Place the cleaned and prepared insects on a cookie sheet and dry in the oven for 1 -2 hours at 100¡C (200¡F). Preheat oven to 190¡C (375¡F). In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, cream butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir in eggs. Gradually add the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and mealworms. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, and bake 8- 10 minutes.
Mealworm CanapŽs
Ingredients:
85 ml (1/3 cup) mealworm larvae, slightly thawed
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 ml (1 tsp.) tomato paste
15 ml (1 Tbsp) olive oil
5 ml (1 tsp.) lemon juice
5 ml (1 tsp.) red wine vinegar
plus: red wine vinegar, freshly ground pepper, loaf of French bread (baguette), finely chopped fresh parsley
With a mortar and pestle or in a blender, mash the mealworms, garlic and tomato paste into a puree. Stirring constantly (or with the blender running), add the oil, a few drops at a time. Add the lemon juice, wine vinegar and pepper. Cut the baguette into 1.5 cm slices. Under the broiler, toast one side of the bread slices, and spread the untoasted side with the mixture. Place the canapŽs on a baking sheet and bake at 200¡C (400¡F) for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley.
Siu Mai
Ingredients:
250 ml (1 cup) mealworms
4 water chestnuts
60 ml (4 Tbsp) green onions, sliced
125 ml (1/2 cup) bamboo shoots
1 egg
5 ml (1 tsp.) salt
23 ml (1 - I/2 Tbsp) soy sauce
30 ml (2 Tbsp) sherry
5 ml (1 tsp.) sugar
23 ml (1 1/2 tsp.) cornstarch
1 ml (1/4 tsp.) pepper
plus: wonton wrappers, dipping sauce (see below), vegetable oil
Place mealworms in blender, and grind until paste-like. Chop water chestnuts and add mealworm paste, green onions, bamboo shoots, egg, salt, soy sauce, sherry, sugar, cornstarch and pepper. Mix well. Fill center of won ton wrapper with 30 ml (2 tsp.) of mixture. Fold won ton in shape of a triangle. Moisten finger tips, and seal edges. Fold creased corners backward and secure the ends with more water. (They should now be shaped as a bishop's cap.) Place in skillet containing oil heated to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry for about 5 minutes. Serve with Dipping Sauce.
Dipping Sauce:
15 ml (1 tsp.) boiling water
15 ml (1 tsp.) mustard
15 ml (1 tsp.) vinegar
30 ml (2 tsp.) soy sauce
Add boiling water to mustard and mix well. Add vinegar and soy sauce. Stir well.
Well, got a little carried away with the bug recipes. But you may have fun with them shocking your friends with some dinner suggestions, :twisted: and it will probably flip them out to have the nutritional!! They are raised for food in some places and called "micro-livestock" :shock: "No Kidding!" :?
Let me know when the next segment of off the menu with Lance will be on.
Sounds like fun.
Miz Jean
P.S. Looks like the nutritional chart isn't going to come out on this in chart form, but if anyone wants it I will send it to you. Also, if you haven't had your fill :lol: of insects at this point, you might want to check here:
http://www.pedagonet.com/other/cuis.html
