Contains: Crickets, insects. If allergic to shellfish, avoid. Added sugar, wheat, gluten, dairy. Is: My first ever cricket dish.
As someone who tries (nearly) everything once, I decided to try insects.
My previous experience voluntarily eating insects (swallowing gnats outdoors at picnics doesn’t count) was the evening my uncle came to visit my father and brought a tin of smoked silk moth cocoons he’d picked up somewhere. Dad was known for trying everything once. They cracked open the tin, and had a few, passing the tin to me.
After what was for me a long bit of trepidation, I reached in and took one. Looked at the thing for a bit. Tried it. It was AWFUL. I did make myself have a second, and Dad made me take the tin home with me, as – he said – I’d probably enjoy it anyway (it ended up in the trash by the next morning). I don’t know what sort of cesspool it had been smoked in, but I was having none of it.
So… maybe it is true that the future of meat is insects? I might as well try again, but with something not smoked way off in China with minimal safety oversight. So… it’s crickets. And to be cautious, it wasn’t smoked, and the animals have been rendered down into flour. If nothing else, the bacon and cheese will help bury it if so needed.
My chickens love crickets – both the dried ones I buy (which smell horrid, at least in the chicken feed packets) and the live ones they find on their own late summer. Maybe they know something I don’t??
Cricket nutrition? This packet has, per serving:
-
- 4.5 grams fat
- Saturated fat 1.5 grams
- Trans fat 0 grams
- Cholesterol 30 mg
- Sodium 95 mg
- Total carb 4 grams
- Dietary fiber 3 grams
- Total sugar 0 grams
- Protein 21 grams
- 4.5 grams fat
A serving also contains 15% or more of calcium, iron and potassium. But we will note here the package indicates that a serving is 1/3 cup – and I used half a cup to make 6 large muffins below – and one muffin is quite nice alongside dinner!
This recipe is adapted from Bacon Infused Cheese Muffins with Cricket Flour!
I modified the amounts of regular wheat flour to cricket flour – I actually increased the ratio in favor of the crickets. And I flung in a scant handful of rolled oatmeal flakes. Just because!
Made to order muffin tins for someone who never remembered to replace the bad old ones tossed out during the move to this homestead. I guess I don’t make muffins often!
Note: I discovered / remembered I didn’t move the old beat up muffin tins up north with me. So I took some mini-meatloaf pans, put in foil dividers, and ladled my batter into these for cooking. Hence, they’re a bit larger than actual spots in muffin tins. Never anything wrong with adapting!!!
Prep Time: 15 minutes.
Cook Time: 17-20 minutes.
Rest Time: Maybe ten minutes to cool enough for handling.
Serves: 6-maybe 8 muffins.
Cuisine: Insectivore.
Leftovers: Yes.
Savory Bacon and Cheese Infused Muffins with Cricket Flour
- 1 ¼ cup 300 mL all purpose flour
- ½ cup / 120 mL cricket flour
- 1 scant handful of rolled oatmeal flakes
- ¼ cup / 60 mL sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 beaten egg
- ¾ cup / 180 mL flax seed milk (or other milk)
- 1/3 cup / 80 mL oil (preferably from bacon drippings, fill out any extra needed with regular cooking oil of your choice.)
- ½ cup / 120 mL shredded sharp cheese. Cheddar, Asiago, or whichever is to hand….
- 4 cooked bacon slices. This is the US bacon here. Cook to crispy.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Grease muffin tin.
Combine flour, cricket flour, oats, sugar, baking powder in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl combine egg, milk, and oil.
Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, mixing only until just incorporated.
Break bacon into small pieces, then add bacon and cheese to the muffin batter, reserving some for topping. Mix. .
Ladle the mixture into the muffin pan, top with a little cheese and bacon, then bake for about 17-19 minutes. An inserted toothpick should come clean. (You could also remove the tin from the oven when only a couple minutes are left, and add the cheese portion then, and return to the oven.)
I found the recipe to be tasty, and perhaps a bit earthy, but in a good way, as if one has eaten a more whole-wheat source of flour.
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Sea Vegetable
Of Goats and Greens 
They sound quite good, high in protein if you had used the whole amount in a single muffin. My only experience with eating insects was my kids summer “insect camp”. At the end they had parents day and we came home with a couple of cricket brownies (whole dried crickets, not powder) and two hissing cockroaches which had been her project for the summer.
Liz, wow! At some point I will try whole dried crickets, since this preliminary gustatory experiment was a success. But I am not certain I’d want cockroaches at home, hissing or otherwise.
My daughter bought some cricket candy type of thing from a store at the mall a few years ago. She said it actually tasted pretty good. I didn’t try any but I applauded her for her bravery, lol. I did ask her to keep the box as visual proof, maybe she still has it.
Hopefully! I haven’t tried that yet (this is my first truly voluntary foray into insect cuisine). Nothing weird at all about the flavor in this form. I’ll experiment further. Insects are related enough to crustaceans, and since crickets are land dwellers, there won’t even be a seafood ambiance – or so I am guessing as I go along.