Cricket Flour - Opinions?

aakaakaak

Okay, so I know it's a bit odd to be talking about eating something you'd feed your pet lizard, but I was curious if anybody had some experience cooking with what's basically baked and pulverized crickets, AKA cricket flour. How capable are you of cooking with it like actual flour? Can you make a pizza with it? How does it taste? Any personal side effects to it? Anybody?

Note: From what I can find it costs about $10 for 100g per bag.

The_Enginerd

I can't imagine it will act like flour AT ALL, more like protein powder.

QuietBloom

I wouldn't do it. It could have all SORTS of adulterants since it is not human food it is not subject to purity regulations.

Some_Watery_Tart

Aaaaaand I was just knocked out of first place. Darn.

bherbert01

All cricket flour recipes I've found include some other flour (casava, all-purpose, etc) for them to work. I think The_Enginerd is right in considering it more of a protein powder.

Espressocycle

QuietBloom wrote: »

I wouldn't do it. It could have all SORTS of adulterants since it is not human food it is not subject to purity regulations.

Amazon has it for human consumption, bag claims it's FDA approved. I saw an episode of Bizarre Foods that featured a bakery that uses it in San Francisco or somewhere in the Bay Area. It's not going to act like flour - certainly not wheat flour anyway. You could probably sub it in for a quarter of the flour in some baked goods. You could probably go full substitution on fudgy brownies.

QuietBloom

Good to know Espressocycle. I think...

Some_Watery_Tart

You could probably add it to a protein shake. It might help thicken it. Or sprinkle it on cauliflower ice cream for an added boost of protein.

aakaakaak

Thanks guys. Makes sense that its more like a p-powder. Has anybody actually consumed it?

girlinahat

sounds expensive to me. personally I'd rather have the whole cricket coated in chocolate.

Some_Watery_Tart

aakaakaak wrote: »

Thanks guys. Makes sense that its more like a p-powder. Has anybody actually consumed it?

***crickets***



*snicker*

stealthq

So ... I kind of hate to ask, but what exactly is the appeal of using cricket powder? Is it just because you already have it and want to use it up?

aakaakaak

stealthq wrote: »

So ... I kind of hate to ask, but what exactly is the appeal of using cricket powder? Is it just because you already have it and want to use it up?

Last night, at work, someone was intending to buy some cricket flour to try it out. Today I saw the "healthy pizza" thread and my brain put 2 and 2 together and thought maybe you could replace cricket flour for regular. Turns out you could do a high protein flour with a 2/3 ratio to 1/3 cricket flour and probably mix it with a plain greek yogurt and seasonings to get a decently healthy (macronutrient wise) pizza dough without it being "thin crust". Now that I understand it a bit more, if I were to do a pizza dough I'd probably just do a casein, flour and greek yogurt crust and hope it doesn't taste like processed compost.

stealthq

aakaakaak wrote: »

stealthq wrote: »

So ... I kind of hate to ask, but what exactly is the appeal of using cricket powder? Is it just because you already have it and want to use it up?

Last night, at work, someone was intending to buy some cricket flour to try it out. Today I saw the "healthy pizza" thread and my brain put 2 and 2 together and thought maybe you could replace cricket flour for regular. Turns out you could do a high protein flour with a 2/3 ratio to 1/3 cricket flour and probably mix it with a plain greek yogurt and seasonings to get a decently healthy (macronutrient wise) pizza dough without it being "thin crust". Now that I understand it a bit more, if I were to do a pizza dough I'd probably just do a casein, flour and greek yogurt crust and hope it doesn't taste like processed compost.

Got it. I can see where the thought came from, at least.

Have to say, with my experience making pizza dough with the real deal (and not so real deal) ingredients ... good luck with that.

100andOnward

I've had Chapul bars, which are made from cricket flour. They're pretty good, good texture, etc.

sympha01

Chocolate chirp cookies. Boom.

RosieWest8

@sympha01--- Chocolate Chirp Cookies ---- yes! Get the cookbook started!

anywho....I've eaten just basically dry roasted crickets with salt before but not had them like as a flour. Agree that it should be used more like protein powder. They taste nutty...like roasted almonds a bit. Just a good crunchy/salty snack. Eating insects as a source (or main source) of protein is done all around the world.

CooCooPuff

It's unfortunate that insects sold for human consumption in the US are either sold as an overpriced candy or as an overpriced health food. It's very easy to start and maintain a feeder insect colony, lots of pet owners do it for their own reptiles to save money.

I never understood the ick factor, especially from people that love shellfish.

sarahlifts

spacequiztime wrote: »

I never understood the ick factor, especially from people that love shellfish.

^^^^^^ THIS
Each time I tell people I dont eat shell fish bc they are just under water bugs like common roaches I get the weird look. If you eat shrimp why not eat a cricket? *shudders* shell fish are bugs, I dont eat bugs.

Showcase_Brodown

Interesting. I guess if I was starving or hard-pressed for a protein source, I'd reach for the cricket and other creepy-crawlies. Until then, give me meat and dairy.

Joannah700

Sounds like it might work to 'bread' your chicken or fish.

At that price though? I would not be cautious about pizza or anything else that requires a 'dough' or 'batter' texture.