Nocturnal Bug Harvesting

Local residents may start to talk about you walking around in the dark, under the street lights and along building walls shining a flashlight but this can be the best time to collect edible bugs from the wild.  In just a few minutes this morning at 5am I gathered enough bugs to have a great tasting and nutritious snack after work!

Phyllophaga fusca beetles and crickets seem to be most abundant locally this time of year and are easy pickins during the dark hours.  The beetles are attracted to lights and somehow, I suppose through being clumsy, they end up on their back under street or other bright lights with legs hopelessly up in the air trying to right themselves.  Crickets like to or just naturally navigate walls and can be easily picked up by hand with a bright flashlight shining on them.  So I carry an open, empty milk jug that will hold them without chance of escape and don't have to fiddle with a lid and put it in the freezer or fridge to kill or slow them down until ready to cook.

So far I have tried these particular bugs cooked two ways.  Fried crispy in a little butter with soy and Cavender's Greek Seasoning and boiled with the same ingredients then added to ramen noodles.  Now if you have never tried Cavender's, you don't know what you're missing!  It's great on all kinds of meat and bugs are meat, just in a different package than what most are used to.  Fried crispy is so far and by far my favorite method of cooking and eating bugs.  Boiled gives a good flavor but leaves the exoskeleton and legs chewy for lack of a better term, not my favored texture.  I would rather be able to crunch the whole bug up and not have to deal with thinking about that indestructable wing or leg getting caught in my mouth or throat somewhere haha!  Some will remove these parts while I don't particularly want to go into all the preparation time.

Another method of nocturnal bug harvesting is with a funnel set into a jar with light as an attractant. 

Nothing new really as entomologists and entomophagists alike have been doing similar for many years with lights and panels in various configurations.  In some countries they have pools of soapy water set below to catch and drown the bugs for harvesting and selling in the street markets.  You just never know for sure though what kind of bugs will end up in the jar or pool. 

So get up at dark-thirty, grab a light and cleaned plastic jug and go get yourself some tasty bugs!  It's a great time just to get out and walk about but don't be wandering into or on private property without permission.  There are plenty of places to harvest bugs at night without getting in trouble or being mistaken for a prowler or worse.  It's also a good idea to keep an eye out for other nocturnal critters out hoping to make a meal of some bugs such as skunks!  If you see one just calmly run like mad haha! 

On a seriously cautionary note, harvesting any insects from the wild is really not 100% safe.  I'm "fairly" certain the insects I've collected and eaten have not been exposed to pesticides or whatever else but again I can't be positive.  Harvesting outside of controlled, farm reared conditions is at one's own risk.  Personally I will be really glad when my own rearing efforts show some gain enough for me to partake of my own labor, knowing where my Gourmet Bugs came from and what they ate!