Insect Info:
Entomophagy is the human practice of eating insects and covers a vast range of animal species, from moth, beetle, and bee larvae, to cockroaches and crickets. Many insects provide important nutrition for those with limited food supplies in the wild or as part of a daily diet. Insects are not only plentiful, but most of them are safe to eat and provide good sources of protein, sugars, fats, vitamins, and minerals. This e-book describes ten edible insects that can be found across the U.S, including where to find them and how to prepare them for eating.
The first on our list of edible insects is the grasshopper. Like locusts and crickets, grasshoppers are abundant throughout North America and are easily prepared for eating. Grasshoppers are also known as short-horned grasshoppers, a name which helps distinguish them from the other insect species in the Orthoptera family. Other members of this family include katydids, or bush crickets, and locusts, which refer to grasshoppers when they change color and swarm in large groups. Many crickets and locusts are also edible.
Grasshoppers inhabit meadows, hedgerows, fields, and forests. Because they often use camouflage, either to hide from or startle prey, they can be difficult to spot. However, grasshoppers can often be heard chirping when males rub their hind legs against their forewings. Once you’ve located an appropriate site, a simple trap can be constructed quickly and easily using a Mason jar and some bait. Dig a small hole in the ground in the site, place the jar into the hole, and cover the outside of the jar with soil. Then place some fruit or plant matter, such as apple, carrot, or lettuce, inside the jar and wait until the following day before checking the jar. You can also add water to the jar to drown any grasshoppers that find their way inside. If there are several people in your group, you can collect grasshoppers by walking in a connected line through long grass, effectively herding the insects into a tarp.
In Uganda, grasshoppers are collected on a mass scale using large angled sheets of galvanized tin roofing placed inside standing oil drums. At night time, powerful electric light is directed onto the tin sheets. Grasshoppers are drawn to the reflected light and slide down into the oil drums.
In North America, the grasshopper is less common a food source, though survival experts and outdoor enthusiasts have relied on this insect to provide vital protein and calcium. There are numerous species in the U.S, including the lubber grasshopper, which has red wings lined with black and can measure 2-2.8 inches. The smaller and more imaginatively named cattail toothpick grasshopper has transparent wings and is found in large numbers in southern United States.
How To Eat:
When fried, the Nsenene grasshopper of Uganda is said to resemble chicken or shrimp in taste. Grasshoppers are a delicacy in many other parts of the world too. In Mexico, for example, people eat grasshoppers, or chapulines, roasted with chili and lime. In Japan, they are known as inago when they candied and enjoyed as a cocktail snack. Whatever their preparation, grasshoppers make a crunchy and enjoyable treats, and can form part of a staple diet when foraging in the wild.
Short-horned grasshoppers range in size from 0.2 to 4.3 inches in length and many species are green or light brown, which enable them to camouflage themselves in the undergrowth. Per 3.5 ounce serving, raw grasshoppers provide from 1/2 to 1 ounce of protein depending on the specie. This serving provides 25-60% of the protein needed daily for a healthy diet. They also contain unsaturated fats, iron and calcium.
It’s best to cook grasshoppers to make them safe to eat, at least for a few minutes. You can boil, fry, or roast grasshoppers, adding different spices and seasonings as you see fit. Many people enjoy them roasted with salt and oil. It is recommended to remove the legs and wings before eating since they might irritate your throat. Grasshoppers can also be dried and stored for future use, especially if you have other food sources available to you.