As many of us have heard, the invasion of the 17-year cicada is well underway in Northeast Ohio.
The cicada mating call is loud, incessant, and to many humans, infuriating. But there may be an upside. We can鈥檛 beat them, but asWKSU鈥檚Vivian Goodman reports in today鈥檚 Quick Bite, we can eat them.
Jeremy Umansky sorts through the cicadas he recently gathered. He examines the little critters closely, selecting only the tastiest-looking specimens to drop into his cooking bowl.
鈥淲e have one here that was attacked by some sort of wild fungus. We want to get rid of that. That鈥檚 not necessarily appetizing.鈥�
This is the kind of thing Umansky loves to do. 鈥淚 work as a chef and a forager.鈥�
He鈥檚 a classically trained chef, but there weren鈥檛 any courses on cooking insects at the Culinary Institute of America, so he basically taught himself.
And he鈥檚 been waiting 17 years for the chance to cook cicadas.
鈥淭here are a few species of ants around here that you can eat -- them or their eggs. Bees are completely edible, but we like to keep them around to make our other food. Cicadas are really one of the only ones that鈥檚 easy and reliable to forage.鈥�
Cicadas haven鈥檛 yet invaded Umansky鈥檚 Cleveland Heights neighborhood. He grabbed these at a friend鈥檚 horse barn in Hunting Valley.
Easy to nab and kill
He says it wasn鈥檛 hard to scoop up a big bunch. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 bite. They鈥檙e fairly lethargic so they don鈥檛 really move so much.鈥�
Killing them was easy, too.
鈥淭hey freeze very, very well. It鈥檚 actually a very humane way to kill them for food. Simply, after you鈥檝e gathered them, put them in a bag and put them in the freezer. They鈥檒l slowly go to sleep and then die.鈥�
Cicadas are more than just perfectly edible. Some might call them health food. Low in fat and carbs, they pack more protein per pound than red meat.
鈥淭hey also belong to the same family that shrimp belongs to," says Umansky, "so that ends up being a very predominant flavor in them.鈥�
They鈥檙e certainly not pretty, with those big red eyes. But that didn't stopancient Greeks from gobbling them
with gusto. Aristotle rhapsodized about the seasonal delicacy, despite its very long season and short availability. Once they emerge every 17 years, they鈥檙e dead and gone within a few weeks.
Modern-day entomophagists, insect-eaters like Umansky, have to scurry now to catch and cook them. They say they're as succulent as shrimp, or another arthropod that's currently molting.
"Right now we're in soft-shell crab season, " saysUmansky. "The crab busts out of its old shell, and a new one hardens on the outside. The cicadas are doing the same exact thing."
After they molt there's just a two-hour window of opportunity before the second shell hardens, but Umansky nabbed these ones early enough for the recipe he has in mind.
Easy as French fries to make
The chef chooses a fairly simple preparation. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to give them just a light rinse. Then we鈥檙e going
to put them through a milk and flour bath to batter them up, and then they鈥檙e going to get deep-fried.鈥�
The battering process is super quick. 鈥淲e鈥檙e taking the cicadas. Just mixing them a little bit in the flour. We鈥檙e going to dip them into our milk. We鈥檙e going to shake the loose milk off and put them back in the flour one last time.鈥�
The only tricky thing is making sure the oil鈥檚 hot enough. 鈥淲e just kind of dip one of them in there gently. We can hear the oil start to sizzle."
It鈥檚 hot enough for the rest of the cicadas. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to put them all in and give them just a quick stir. Once these develop a nice golden-brown color to them we鈥檒l take them off.鈥�
Ready for thesandwich
Ittakes just 2 1/2 minutes. 鈥淭hey look ready. So we鈥檙e going to take them out of the oil.鈥� He lays them on paper towels 鈥渢o let some of the oil drain off.鈥�
He wants the true flavor to emerge so he adds just a little salt and fresh cracked pepper.
The fried cicadas are ready now to lay on a bed of shredded lettuce. For a New Orleans-style po鈥� boy sandwich, Umansky has chosen a soft brioche bun.
He could have made the traditional remoulade sauce but gets a similar flavor profile by slathering the bun with ketchup, mayo, and mustard, and then instead of capers "we鈥檙e just going to cut thin slices of dill pickle going lengthwise. And we鈥檒l lay them right on the sandwich.
And they鈥檒l give us just that sour tang bite and that little bit of vegetable crunch that we鈥檙e looking for.鈥�
A handful of potato chips garnishes the plate. All that鈥檚 needed now are the cicadas.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to layer them right on the sandwich. And as you can hear they crisped up really nice.鈥�
Just a final New Orleans touch. 鈥淟ittle bit of hot sauce.鈥�
Many other uses
Po鈥檅oyswork as well with cicadas as they do with shrimp or soft-shell crab, but the chef knows many other ways to bring out the best in the insects.
鈥淭hese would go great, speaking of Louisiana food, in an etoufee," he says. " You could also do, if you鈥檙e OK seeing the cicada in your food, shrimp with a little bit of lemon-butter sauce tossed with pasta, substitute the cicada.鈥�
What鈥檚 nice about the sandwich, though, is we can no longer see those scary little red eyes.
鈥淧utting a fried coating on them or putting them in a sandwich,鈥� says Umansky, 鈥渋s going to make your adventure in bug eating a lot easier going in your first time.鈥�
Umansky plans to collect enough cicadas during the current swarm to makegarum, a fermented fish sauce ancient Greeks used as a condiment.
鈥淚nstead of using fish I鈥檒l be using the cicadas. This is a long process. It can take up to a year to make. But I鈥檒l take the cicadas and I鈥檒l mix them with salt and allow them to sit until I get this wonderful, savory, umami sauce.鈥�
The chef suggests using cicadas in any of your favorite shrimp recipes. He warns, though, that if you鈥檙e allergic to shellfish, cicadas are not for you. And if you鈥檙e concerned about pesticides, forage in the forest and avoid the cicadas crying out from your neighbor鈥檚 lawn.
You鈥檒l know when they鈥檙e near. 鈥淭heir noise output is almost equal at close range to that of a jet engine.鈥�
A reliable food source for a hungry planet
In a world where by 2050 almost 9.6 billion people will have to share what food we have, we may have to overcome our aversion to bugs.
Native Americans know they鈥檙e OK, but insects have never crawled into modern American cuisine. 鈥淚f we look at them worldwide, though," says Umansky, "they鈥檙e reliable, sustainable sources of protein, and our neighbors down in Mexico eat them by the basketful.鈥�
Some chefs remove the head, legs, and wings from their cicadas, but not Umansky. He says they're fine just as they are, and taste a little like what they feed on themselves. 鈥淐icadas mainly for most of their life suck on the saps and the juices from different types of trees and their roots underground. So because of this they get this almost green, grassy, slightly woodsy flavor.鈥�
TheU.N. reports 2 billion people consume insects in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Australia, so Quick Bites decided to give cicadas a try and really liked them.
To describe the taste? Slightlyshrimpy, and a little nutty. We鈥檙e ready to try again in about 17 years.
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