Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1892 — Edible Insects. [ARTICLE]

Edible Insects.

Young wasp grubs fried in butter do not at first sight appear to be the most, alluring dish in the world, yet they have been pronounced delicious by those hardy experimenters who have tried them. Fed as they are upon the sweetest juices drawn from fruits and flowers, they naturally possess a delicate flavor. Perhaps the best way to prepare them is to bake them in a comb. Incidentally to experiments conducted by government experts respecting the edible qualities of insects, a number of trials were made of a beverage particularly novel, which might be termed “antade. ” A few hundred ants were crushed at a time, in a mortar with a pestle, and the liquid from them, after being strained, was mixed just like lemon juice, with water and sugar. The resulting beverage resembles lemonade so closely as to be scarcely distinguishable from it. The reason why is very easy to explain. Formic acid is the nearest approach to citric acid, which gives lemon juice its flavbr, known to the chemist In fact, there is very little difference between them. Awhile ago a St. Louis caterer made from grasshoppers a soup which was pronounced delicious by many people who were offered an opportunity of tasting it. It closely resembled bisque. A learned professor treated some friends of his on one occasion to Curry of grasshopper and grasshopper croquettes without informing, them as to the nature of the banquet, but an unlucky hind leg discovered in one of the croquettes revealed the secret. Among the people of Java cockchafers are a favorite food. Those admirable economists, the Chinese, eat the chrysalids of silkworms after the silk lias been wound off them, frying them in butter or lard, adding the yelk of an egg of two and seasoning with pepper, salt and vinegar. In order t!6 acquire the plumpness so admired by their spouses, Turkish women ct/nsume jn large quantities the grubs of cert.aVr. beetles. It would require some courage to test for one’s self the excellence of any of these dishes; and yet what may not be dared by a race which long ago discovered the edible properties of the eel and the oyster?