Recipes

Caramel Cricket Crunch

• ½ cup butter

• ½ cup honey

• ¼ caramel
• Popcorn
 (one full bag, popped in microwave or store bought already popped)
• 1 cup roasted chopped crickets

Directions:

Heat (melt) butter in small pot with handle on low heat.
Add honey and caramel and blend well for about a minute.
Mix crickets with popcorn in separate large bowl and pour in the butter/hone/caramel mixture, stirring well.
Spread out mixture on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Cut into small pieces and serve warm or cold.

Chocolate Covered Crickets

• 1 cup roasted crickets (see recipe for Dry Roasted Crickets)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Melt the chocolate chips according to packaging.
Drop in a handful of crickets, stirring them around.
Scoop them out with a spoon, and place them on wax paper, keeping them apart from one another.
Continue until all the crickets are covered.
The chocolate will harden overnight but if you prefer you can freeze them for about an hour and they will be ready to eat shortly thereafter.
Once hardened, the crickets can be stored in a container for future use.

Tips: For an extra treat and visual experience, place chocolate covered crickets atop broken bits of white chocolate chunks or dip chocolate covered crickets in powdered chocolate and serve chilled.

Sautéed Crickets (or any insect),

Ingredients

• 1-2 cups crickets
• ¼ cup butter
• 3 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup chopped scallions

Directions:
Melt butter, add garlic and scallions and sauté for several minutes.
Add insects and sauté for an additional 10 – 15 minutes.
Season to taste.
Serve hot.

Sautéed Crickets ‘n Greens, serves 4 – 6

• 1 large bunch of spinach, about 12 cups leaves
• 1 medium bunch of beet greens, chopped
• ½ cup crickets (about 2 dozen – properly prepared)
• 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
• 1 lemon (to be sliced for wedges)

Directions:

Wash spinach and beet greens in cold water.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat.
Toss in crickets, pushing around in the oil and sauté for 3-4 minutes.
Add the garlic and lemon juice and sauté together with crickets for 2 minutes.
Turn the heat to high and add beet greens and about ¼ teaspoon salt cooking for a few minutes before adding the spinach.
Add spinach, wilting it by tossing with tongs to coat the leaves with the hot oil, garlic, crickets and other greens, blend all ingredients thoroughly.
Add pine nuts.
Add salt and pepper to taste
Serve immediately with lemon wedge.

Tip: If you're using a combination of greens, add spinach at the last minute, just before serving. If you’re using frozen greens however you can place them into the sauté pan at the same time when called for.

Cricket Fritters,makes about 20 Cricket Fritters, enough for 4 persons

• 200 grams flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup crickets, chopped (pre-boiled but not roasted)
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon chili paste
• ½ of a large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 red chili, thinly sliced
• 3 small chives, cut to 1 inch strips
• ½ cup cooked corn kernels
• ¼ cup fresh ginger, finely chopped and pre sautéed for a minute in separate pan
• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Mix flour, chili paste, salt & water and combine until the texture is smooth. The texture should be thick but not watery.
Throw in the chopped onions, chives, ginger, sliced chili, corns, crickets and combine.
Heat a large pot with cooking oil. When the oil is heated properly, it’s time to cook.
Scoop a spoonful of the mixture and drop it into the oil for frying. Don’t put too many pieces in at one time, as they need room to fry around until they turn a golden brown color, which should take about 3-5 minutes.
Transfer to a cooling rack and repeat with remaining mixture.
Serve with rice and garnish with chopped cilantro leaves.