Can Locusts Be Eaten? The Nutritional Value of Locusts and Precautions
Locusts, commonly known as grasshoppers, are insects of the family Acrididae in the order Orthoptera. There are many species, with over 10,000 species worldwide. They mainly harm grasses of the Poaceae family and are agricultural pests, but today they have become a delicacy on the dining table. They are not only rich in nutritional value but also delicious, with extremely high medicinal value. Let's take a look together below!
Can locusts be eaten?
Locusts can be eaten. Locusts not only have a reasonable nutritional composition, but their fat and cholesterol content is lower than that of livestock and poultry meat, making them an ideal food for patients with obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Many places in China have the habit of eating locusts, especially people in Tianjin, who most enjoy eating deep-fried locusts. Residents of islands such as Java, Mauritius, and Reunion also enjoy eating deep-fried locusts. Many companies now also make locusts into canned products for sale, and some restaurants also offer locust specialty dishes.
The Nutritional Value of Locusts
1. Locusts are rich in chitin: Nutrition experts believe that chitin is hailed as the sixth major life element for the human body after protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Chitin can raise the pH value of body fluids, improve the acidic environment within the body, clear free radicals, inhibit damage to human tissue cells from peroxides, activate cells, delay aging, and help eliminate toxins from the body, achieving the effect of detoxifying and beautifying the skin (Japan uses chitin as a preparation for sewage treatment). Therefore, chitin is recommended by nutrition experts as the last treasure of humanity in the 21st century.
2. Locusts have extremely high medicinal value: According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica," used alone or in combination, they can treat many diseases and have effects such as relieving cough and calming asthma, detoxifying, and promoting rash eruption. They are mainly used to treat whooping cough, bronchial asthma, infantile convulsions, sore throat, incomplete rash eruption, bronchitis, and antispasmodic effects, and also have the effects of lowering blood pressure, reducing weight, lowering cholesterol, nourishing and strengthening the body, and nourishing the stomach and strengthening the spleen. Long-term consumption can prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. External use can treat otitis media. Grasshoppers that have been frosted can treat bacillary dysentery, enteritis, and so on. They are rich in nutrition, with tender meat and a delicious taste like shrimp, and the structure of their internal nutritional components is more reasonable than that of livestock and poultry.
3. Locusts have low fat and cholesterol content: The fat content of locusts is 5.25%. They mainly feed on green grasses of the Poaceae family and do not eat other feed. According to reports, some patients with obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases currently tend to eat insects in order to achieve the purpose of losing weight and curing diseases. According to research by relevant experts, they are a relatively ideal space food for future humans and an ideal food for weight loss and fitness in modern society.
Special Ways to Eat Locusts
1. Yunnan's Eighteen Oddities: three grasshoppers make a dish: Making dishes with grasshoppers, in some places in Yunnan also called “jumping dish,” take the collected grasshoppers home, blanch them with boiling water, remove the wings, slowly roast them yellow in a pot, roast until the moisture is dried and they are golden brown, then add sesame oil and Sichuan peppercorn seasoning. The golden grasshoppers then give off an enticing aroma. In the crispness there is a fresh scent of grass. Or dry the grasshoppers, and when “friends come from afar,” stir-fry a plate, prepare a couple of taels of wine, and entertain friends.
2. The unique grasshopper pickles of the Hani people in Mojiang: After catching grasshoppers, scald them to death and dry them in the sun, remove the wings, spiky legs, tails, and intestines and stomach, leaving only the head, body, and thighs. After washing clean, put them into an iron pot and stir-fry over low heat until cooked and fragrant. After cooling in the sun, add salt, ginger, garlic, chili, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, brown sugar, and other seasonings in proportion to the quantity, mix well, put them into a clay jar, seal the jar mouth tightly, and take them out when eating.
3. Tianjin's unique deep-fried grasshoppers: In the past, people in Tianjin hated grasshoppers so much that they went as far as “peeling their skin and eating their flesh.” Over time, the locusts were not eradicated, but a famous specialty snack was created. When visiting Tianjin, not eating deep-fried grasshoppers is a great regret. Deep-fried grasshoppers are fatty but not greasy, crisp, fragrant, and crunchy. If sandwiched in a freshly baked hot pancake, they are truly full of a unique fragrance, and the taste is excellent. Therefore, a two-part allegorical saying was popular in Tianjin: “Pancake rolled with deep-fried grasshoppers -- just eat it together!”
4. “Pancake rolled with grasshoppers” is also a unique way of eating in Tianjin: People in Tianjin especially love eating grasshoppers. Around autumn, before grasshoppers lay eggs, their meat is fat and delicious. During this season, vendors selling deep-fried grasshoppers can be seen everywhere. Use homemade pancakes made of white flour to roll deep-fried grasshoppers and eat them. Remove the wings, pinch off the spiky small legs, keep only the body, put them into an oil pot and fry until golden brown, take them out and drain off the oil, sprinkle with fine pepper salt, mix with chopped scallions and soy sauce, spread on a pancake and roll it up to eat. As they say in Tianjin, “It couldn't be more delicious!” Back then, Mr. Zhang Boling, president of Nankai University, said very wittily: "Deep-fried grasshoppers sprinkled with Sichuan peppercorn salt to go with wine -- even if someone invited me to Yishunhe to eat Russian cuisine, I wouldn't go." Although this was a joke, it shows how fragrant, crisp, and tempting deep-fried grasshoppers are.
5. Northern folk grilled locusts: Remove the wings and legs of locusts, thread them onto bamboo skewers, and slowly roast them over charcoal fire. During roasting, brush the locusts evenly with cooking oil to ensure that the roasted locusts are crisp outside and tender inside. According to personal taste, sprinkle on a little cumin powder, salt, monosodium glutamate, rosemary powder, chili powder, and so on. After roasting, eating them is extraordinarily fragrant, and will certainly make onlookers drool.