Author Topic: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)  (Read 7631 times)

Double Yu

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I've been lazily accumulating 'freeze-dried' (basically, just frozen) meal worms from my lazy mealworm farm (they eat vegetable odds and ends plus some random expired grain products) BUT in order to gather up my courage to overcome I-don't-eat-insects socialization, I'm going to need the best beginners-can-do-this (!) recipes you've got.

Anybody else out there trying low budget, creative, portable, six-legged protein sources? Got a favorite way to prepare them?

csprof

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2017, 06:08:42 PM »
I've been lazily accumulating 'freeze-dried' (basically, just frozen) meal worms from my lazy mealworm farm (they eat vegetable odds and ends plus some random expired grain products) BUT in order to gather up my courage to overcome I-don't-eat-insects socialization, I'm going to need the best beginners-can-do-this (!) recipes you've got.

Anybody else out there trying low budget, creative, portable, six-legged protein sources? Got a favorite way to prepare them?

I - oh god, why am i putting this in writing on the internet under my real name? - once sauteed them in garlic butter for a movie festival whose theme was 'bugs', at which my entomologist then-gf had been invited to speak.  They weren't bad, but the sight of the writhing worms cooking in the pan did it for me, and i didn't really enjoy the experience.  The taste was acceptable -- basically, garlic butter flavor.  You're right to have freeze-killed them first.

Were I to do it again, which you can most certainly bet I won't, I'd also add some chilies.  This recipe does pretty much what I had in mind (and has good suggestions for cleaning them first):  https://groundtoground.org/2013/01/30/how-prepare-eat-mealworms/


Free Spirit

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2017, 07:54:32 PM »
My ecology teacher once brought in a little delicacy - meal worm cookies. Apparently the meal worms were frozen first and then pulverized to a powder which she then added to the dry ingredients. I probably would have tried it if she didn't leave a few whole worms stuck into the cookies like thumbprints. -_-

koshtra

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2017, 08:39:08 PM »
Oh no, no, sorry, you hit my limit. Can't do the bugs & worms thing. Can barely do shrimp. I applaud you but I ain't goin' there, no how no way :-)

JLee

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2017, 08:50:46 PM »
Oh no, no, sorry, you hit my limit. Can't do the bugs & worms thing. Can barely do shrimp. I applaud you but I ain't goin' there, no how no way :-)

LOL, I'm with you there.  I can only do shrimp and lobster if I don't think about it and don't really look at it either.

Little Aussie Battler

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2017, 09:45:33 PM »
Just looked up what these are.

Definite pass.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2017, 01:57:14 AM »
Eating insects is very smart for minimizing your footprint on the planet. My husband has been talking about it for some years that he wants to do this, it is just not sold as food here in Norway. I told his brother about it and be gave my DH 3 boxes of freeze dried grasshoppers, mealworms and something else as a present once. My DH has mostly been eating those as snacks in his office. Once he made a green salad at home and added mealworms to it. I did my best to give it a chance and eat it. In the beginning it was okay, but underway it became more and more revolting in my mind. I couldn't eat the last few bites. Maybe if those worms were disguised as a burger, I might give it another chance.

Adventine

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2017, 02:21:49 AM »
I think I could take mealworms in powder form. Apart from that, no, no, no.

nora

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2017, 03:16:00 AM »
I just started a mealworm colony. But they are expensive to eat, relative to other things I think. Better off selling them to others and buying something cheaper to eat with the money I reckon. I am going to feed them to my chooks as treats so the chooks become more friendly. But there is no way I would eat one myself, even after a bottle of wine.

Trifle

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2017, 06:13:25 AM »
Black soldier fly larvae are also something to consider.  They are bigger than mealworms and supposedly very easy to farm.  Most people farm them for chicken or fish feed, but they could also be people food.  I haven't tried them. 

There are also crickets.  I ate some at a free tasting hosted by a small start up company, and they were good. 

Double Yu

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2017, 09:00:19 AM »
This is really an amusing thread! It seems we're mostly all in the same boat - either we accidentally or experimentally tried them (or didn't) and won't go there again or ever... I'm still not there.

The mealworms are not expensive to raise - they're seriously subsisting on 'throwaway' compostable stuff and are quite economical in that regard. I'd started keeping them with the intention of raising coturnix quail and providing them as a high protein supplement. Quail haven't happened because of life stuff so now I just have mealworms. :D

I also haven't eaten snails but once, in China (and different form, more like water snails) - being mostly rubbery, they didn't inspire a passionate love... but I live in an area that's been colonized by the famous French escargot variety and so I sometimes think of them, too, as a possibility.

ETA: I keep thinking: I should just consider them little terrestrial shrimp and get over my heebie jeebies. But that hasn't done the trick either.

I was thinking mealworms, ground and put into bread or something like that, but yeah, the butter-and-garlic answer is probably the answer.

Apparently the frozen and then sauteed in a hot dry pan are kind of nutty... ?

Trying to psych myself up for it. It hasn't happened yet.

ETA: I keep trying to think of them as little terrestrial shrimp but that's not working either :)
« Last Edit: August 10, 2017, 09:02:28 AM by Double Yu »

Double Yu

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2017, 09:06:22 AM »
Hey Adventine, are there any insect delicacies in the Philippines? I've seen great mounds of cocoons at grocery stores in China and when I lived in Thailand I heard tell of a dish made of locusts (iirc) ... lots of people all over the place find insects to be affordable, environmentally appropriate and, given the right socialization, delicious.

I probably am having the same kind of difficulty my husband's Tibetan friends had upon hitting the lowland coast region and seeing shrimp!  A kind of WTF moment -- "you eat those insects!!???!!"

farmerj

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #12 on: August 10, 2017, 09:39:26 AM »
The cocoons are probably silkworms. I've had them canned, and they were terrible.

I've eaten a fair number of bugs. Really liked cicadas and a certain species of tarantula - outstanding flavor for both. Most of the rest weren't tasty.

Not what you want to hear, but get squicky at the thought of eating mealworms (I used to feed them to pets), and probably wouldn't do it unless they were completely transformed.

Lmoot

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #13 on: August 10, 2017, 01:17:28 PM »
I used to regularly down live mealworms as part of a behind the scenes presentation for my job. I work at a zoo.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #14 on: August 10, 2017, 02:16:51 PM »
My DH really likes the grasshoppers and would like to buy them again.

sjlp

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #15 on: August 10, 2017, 06:25:53 PM »
I like insects crunchy, so I prefer fried though I'm not sure if it makes them all that healthy. Haven't tried mealworms specifically, though.

Adventine

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #16 on: August 10, 2017, 07:30:02 PM »
Hey Adventine, are there any insect delicacies in the Philippines? I've seen great mounds of cocoons at grocery stores in China and when I lived in Thailand I heard tell of a dish made of locusts (iirc) ... lots of people all over the place find insects to be affordable, environmentally appropriate and, given the right socialization, delicious.

I probably am having the same kind of difficulty my husband's Tibetan friends had upon hitting the lowland coast region and seeing shrimp!  A kind of WTF moment -- "you eat those insects!!???!!"

I'm a city girl, so off the top of my head, I can't remember any local insect dishes. :) I have tried crocodile, frog, stingray, water buffalo, pig's blood, pig's ears, chicken intestines, which were all delicious and considered well within the normal range of edible :D

SweetLife

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #17 on: August 11, 2017, 12:24:28 PM »
Nooooooo ..... "runs screaming from the room!"

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2017, 12:51:32 PM »
I have a very negative association with worms of any kind based on an experience I describe in the latest story in my journal.

Miss Piggy

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #19 on: August 11, 2017, 12:58:40 PM »
Every once in a while, I think to myself "Wow, people post the weirdest questions on this forum."

I guess I'll just leave it at that.  :)

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #20 on: August 11, 2017, 01:04:17 PM »
Every once in a while, I think to myself "Wow, people post the weirdest questions on this forum."

I guess I'll just leave it at that.  :)

Yeah, I think I'll probably just stick to lentils.

Double Yu

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #21 on: August 11, 2017, 04:02:40 PM »
oh lentils, I LIKE lentils! :)  I'm not certain I'll EVER get around to eating the mealworms at this rate! You guys are no help!! LOL

I may just give up here :)

koshtra

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #22 on: August 11, 2017, 04:17:16 PM »
Gotta be a higher-level solution here. See if you can train mealworms to raise lentils.

gmdv

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #23 on: August 11, 2017, 05:02:55 PM »
Never tried them, however, I did eat silkworm larvae before. They weren't bad, chewy and very juicy, but definitely didn't taste like chicken.  As long as you make the dish look appetizing, the gross factor shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Something like this looks much more palatable than a bunch of squirming worms.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2017, 07:45:52 PM by gmdv »

Optimiser

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #24 on: August 11, 2017, 05:44:26 PM »
I took a food in non-western cultures class in college and the professor brought in mealworms and crickets. Both were fried and crunchy and not at all bad.

I've heard of cricket protein powder and bars recently, but they seem to expensive. I hadn't thought of eating mealworms for nutrition and not novelty, but I wouldn't be opposed to it if they tasted good. I think I would have to buy them already dead, and maybe already cooked though. The thought of raising them, killing them, and then eating them is not appealing, but maybe that is the only way it could be done economically.

limeandpepper

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #25 on: August 12, 2017, 09:14:01 AM »
I think eating insects make a lot of sense - they're a nutritious and sustainable food, and it would be great if more of us can overcome our prejudices about it, so I cheer you on! I'd like to become more comfortable with this sort of thing. I haven't eaten mealworms, but I've eaten hornet larvae... it's not something I would've tried on my own, but my parents had it before and said it was not bad, and they took me to the restaurant and we all ate it together. So I think it really helps to have that sort of support and encouragement to help you take the first step, haha.

I remember reading something about eating mealworms on this forum... I've found the posts about it:

I have a mealworm farm that I use for my own consumption. My fiancé was completely traumatized when I brought mealworm in our house, but knowing that I won't let go until I do it, he let it be.

Well I had my second meal of mealworm this week. Cooked in butter and garlic and it was delicious. In a few months my farm will be able to provide me with enough protein source that I'll be able to have a decent amount of food every week. I eat insects for all the nutritional benefits (vit b12, protein, fiber, etc). I mostly eat plant based at home but I don't consider myself a vegetarian or a vegan.

I also garden a lot and try to avoid produce in supermarkets as they don't contain as much vitamins as home grown produce does.

I started eating insects in the form of flour. You cannot tell there's some in muffins or bread. Then, as the price per pound was ridiculous, I wanted to start my own farm in a plastic shoe box. Was able to get a few meal from the second generations and now I think I'll have to upgrade into a few more plastic boxes lol, they reproduce so fast and in quantity.

Anagnorisis

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Re: Does anyone here eat mealworms? Are you willing to admit it? :)
« Reply #26 on: August 12, 2017, 10:47:51 AM »
I've had fried grasshoppers on numerous occasions, by choice.  I really like them in guacamole or well-seasoned and eaten plain.  Never tried mealworms, but I'd be excited to do so.  I draw the HARDEST line at arachnids though, not a fan in general.  Also, Temple of Doom likely ruined beetles for me.

I say all of this having never had to prepare insects myself, or seen insects whole (live or dead) prior to putting them in my mouth.  That might be uncomfortable, but I think I could overcome it.