"Insects" news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

Food Network releases its 2010 schedule, which includes pathetic chefs and more screwball Brian Boitano.

Move over, Two Buck Chuck; 7-Eleven is bringing the wine game.

Momofuku's David Chang chats about TV, culinary trends and how In-N-Out Burger is better than Taylor's Automatic Refresher in San Francisco.

Is the freneticism of Thanksgiving a good thing, or does it make you run for the hills -- you decide?

When devising your Thanksgiving menu, don't leave sides out in the cold -- invite Caramelized Onion Cranberry Sauce to the table.

Put your stomach where your mouth is -- grub on bugs!

And for dessert, try The World's Best Apple Pie.

• Mmmm insects. Some eat them outright, some ground them up into meals, and some grow their own for eating.
• For Northern Italian fare, try Vancouver's La Quercia.
• With the lunch meat crisis, what on earth is left to feed the kids in this no-peanut butter age?
• Go here for a list of wild foods that are currently in their prime.
• Recipes: Dave Seidler's Best Pancakes Ever, Sausage Topped Cornbread, and Julia Aitken's Braised Lamb and Lentils.
• Tasting wines, and the world of pricing.

Did you catch the guy eating toasted cicadas on The Colbert Report last night? David Gracer, a Rhode Island writing teacher, is on a quest to convince chefs to cook with insects, claiming that bugs offer more edible protein per pound than beef cattle.

Lots of cultures eat insects. I've enjoyed tiny grasshoppers, known as chapulines, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Slathered in guacamole and rolled in a tortilla, they were salty and undistinguished-tasting. Toasted and tossed with salt and chili powder, they were like corn nuts with legs. Cicadas, earthworms, crickets - bring 'em on.

Colbert was not convinced though. "I might ask one of my writers to eat a bug," he said. "Let me check their contract."

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You may have sprayed garlic juice, tobacco juice, combonations thereof on your tomatoes to stave off aphids and the like...you may have sprayed any number of "organic solutions" on your precious crops. But, there is a naturally occuring compound that will not only protect your plants from unwanted insects, but for livestock as well. It's called Diatomaceous earth (DE, diatomite, diahydro) and it is a clever approach to pests. Yes I know, one plant's pest is some benign bat's snack...however, serious small-scale growers (say, tomatoes, green beans, squash, etc.) pull their hair out to keep insects nibbling on other things.

Diatomaceous earth is one good answer. It's simply a porous, chalky, white sedimentary rock composed of fossilized diatoms-- hard shelled algea. The compound absorbs the waxy outer layer of an insect's body; they die from dehydration.

DE can be used in livestock and humans, but the efficacy is low since there is no shortage of liquid in the digestive tracts of either. So, if you've run out of eco-friendly insecticide ideas, give this one a try. It doesn't smell and your plants won't mutate into super-tobacco.

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We talked about chocolate-covered ants once before, but when we did, I got the impression that we were considering the tiny little guys that crawl around the patio and that end up in movies, not the so-called big-butt queen ants that are making an entry onto the gourmet foods market. "The first loud crackle tastes and feels like popcorn, but by the time the juices spray wildly in your mouth and the filament-like legs slide down your throat, there's no mistaking this toasted ant queen."

Filament-like legs? Spraying juices? Thanks - but no thanks.

These insects, called hormiga culona, are popular in Colombia, where they are gathered, and thought to have medicinal properties, including acting as an aphrodisiac and as a defense against cancer. There, they are often toasted and salted, though restaurants in the area they are harvested offer ant-spreads and ant-based sauces for their dishes. They are often given away, as the ants are not only a traditional food, but a part of the culture.

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