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The Smallest Small Livestock

4K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  TxStrong 
#1 ·
The Smallest Small Livestock
Think about this post seriously, especially those who do not have the space for other protein rich livestock. If you ever need to do this food source, you may need it badly. It doesn’t hurt to know how.
Rising Insect food
The thought of eating insects may be very unsettling to most Americans, however, in many cultures insects and other arthropods have been eaten as a staple. Arthropods and other invertebrates that are commonly eaten, such as crab, lobster, shrimp, and escargot (snails) are accepted. Why wouldn't arthropods like insects or even worms be just as good? They are a good source of protein, easy to find, take up less space than even rabbits. Their nutritional value is equal to if not better than our traditional meat choices. Which insect is the most nutritious? Which would be the easiest to rear? In a true survival situation the time and costs in rearing insects or labor to catch insects must be considered. One thing to keep in mind in hunting any animal you are going to eat is to never expend more energy in capturing it than it is going to give back to you upon consumption.
First of all, are they nutritious enough to bother eating in the first place? Well, they don’t stack up too badly. Earthworms are an excellent source of protein, reportedly 82% protein and the essential oil of Earthworms is an Omega 3. Most insects, like grasshoppers, are high in nutritional content. Grubs are high in fat and nutrition.
Nutritional Value of Various Insects per 100 grams
Insect……………. Protein (g) Fat (g) Carbs Calcium (mg) Iron (mg)
Water Beetle……. 19.8 8.3 2.1 43.5 13.6
Red Ant…………. 13.9 3.5 2.9 47.8 5.7
Silk Worm Pupae 9.6 5.6 2.3 41.7 1.8
Dung Beetle…….. 17.2 4.3 .2 30.9 7.7
Cricket…………. 12.9 5.5 5.1 75.8 9.5
Small Grasshopper 20.6 6.1 3.9 35.2 5.0
Large Grasshopper 14.3 3.3 2.2 27.5 3.0
June Beetle……… 13.4 1.4 2.9 22.6 6.0
Caterpillar……… 6.7 N/A N/A N/A 13.1
Termite………….. 14.2 N/A N/A N/A 35.5
Weevil………….. 6.7 N/A N/A N/A 13.1
Beef (Lean)……... 27.4 N/A N/A N/A 3.5
Fish (Broiled Cod) 28.5 N/A N/A N/A 1.0
What types of critters do people eat?
The Japanese still eat insects such as: boiled wasp larvae, aquatic insect larvae, fried rice-field grasshoppers & fried cicada. American Indians known to feast on ants, crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, weevil larvae, and beetle larvae. Many tropical peoples eat termites in quantity. I was surprised to find how many insects are being studied as direct human food. We will can cover only a few.
First, how do we catch these little chunks of squirming protein anyway?
Observe when insects are least active, especially if they are a type of insect that is particularly active, like a grasshopper. Or when they become active and visible like earthworms on a warm, wet summer night.
1. Termites are collected by placing a bowl of water under a light source. The termites are attracted to the light and will then fall into the water. The queen termites are considered a delicacy.
2. Crickets can be collected from soil tunnels which they build. A line of Indians would drive crickets across a field into trench with lightly covered with dry grass stocks. Then they would ignite the grass and roast them on the spot.
3. Grasshoppers crawl to the top of tall grass blades during the night and become very dormant and still. They are most easily captured in the early morning, while still dormant, and can be plucked by hand or swatted with a twig and gathered into a basket.
4. June beetles are strongly attracted to night lights and can be caught by hand when land near it.
5. Grubs are found underground near compost piles, rotting logs or stump roots. They are easily dug.
6. Methods of "calling up" worms out of the ground, a process also known as Grunting. Take a seasoned piece of wood, about four feet long. It should be in the shape of a wedge, about two inches wide at the top and ½ inch wide at the bottom. Pound this wedge three feet into the ground. To create vibrations down the wedge and into the ground, rub a piece of tapered steel across the wood, just like you’re playing a violin. Some people make their “grunting bows” out of wood. These bows have lots of raised notches that vibrate when gently rubbed across the surface of the wedge.
7. An other method is to drive two metal rods into the ground, about two feet apart. To each rod, hook up jumper cables connected to a car battery. Worms are said to just jump out of the ground.

What do you need to raise them yourself?
The only equipment you'll need is a rearing container, a tight-fitting cover, and the insect's food. Some insects need one or two other items, but they are easy to make or inexpensive to buy. Good rearing containers are wide-mouth jars, gallon jugs, or terrariums Glass is best because you can easily watch the activity inside and it is easy to clean.
Cover the container with a small sheet of glass or a piece of old bed sheet held down by a rubber band. Nylon window screen works well also. Choose your cover by the amount of humidity the insects need: glass holds moisture in; a screen or cloth lets it out. Most insects need a little drinking water. Fill a small vial with water and plug it with a cotton wick; then lay the vial on its side and the in sects will drink from the wet cotton. Incidentally, a ring of Vaseline around the inside top of the container deters climbing insects from scaling the walls when the cover is off.
Most insects raised indoors grow best if the temperature is 75-80°F, some like it even warmer. You can place a lamp near for warmth or move the container itself near a bright window during the day. Because of the possibilities of diseases or cannibalism, do not crowd your colony. Remove excess insects or divide colonies that get too large. Periodically you will want to start a new colony to give it a fresh habitat and retain its vigor.
Meal Worms
The yellow meal worm, Tenebrio molitor, is quite easy raised and recommended for the beginner . The adults are a hard-shelled beetle, and the female lays about 275 eggs in her life time. Small tough-skinned larvae hatch from the eggs and grow to about l-inch long. These worms molt 9 to 20 times (which is a lot for insects) before they are fully grown. Larvae grow up in 4-6 months if the temperature is near 80°F. The quiescent pupal stage comes next, and later, the adult beetle. The adult lives about 2-3 months. After your colony gets going, you'll have all four insect stages at the same time. The large larval stage, before they mature into beetles, is the choice eating stage. If you wish to make insect protein a regular part of your diet, you can grow enough mealworms by start a large colony of 5000 or more.
Simply take a flat plastic tub with a lid, fill it with an inch or so of oats or other grain, put in a slice of potato, carrot or other hard vegetable as a source of water, and then deposit your mealworms!
Make sure to replace the slice of potato fairly frequently, otherwise you will be growing mold instead of mealworms. Meal worms eat many foods, but wheat bran with a little dry brewer's yeast added makes a staple diet. They will grow on wheat bran alone, but the yeast makes bigger larvae. Put 3-6 inches of food in the bottom of the rearing container.
Humidity is important, so put a few slices of potato or carrot on top of the food, and replace them when dried up. Be sure to maintain the right humidity because too little will prevent growth and too much will make the food moldy. Also add a piece or two of crumpled paper toweling for the insects to crawl on and for the larvae to pupate. Thin the colony when crowded or the adults will eat the eggs. However, unlike crickets, mealworms are unlikely to escape unless you are hideously careless.
Raising Crickets
Many kinds of crickets can be reared indoors. The black field cricket and the straw-colored house cricket are excellent subjects and easy to collect. The male cricket makes the familiar chirping sound. You can tell the female by her long, sword like egg laying apparatus. The female lays her eggs in sand and the nymphs appear 3-4 weeks later. At 80°F the nymphs become adults in about 2 months; at 90°F they grow twice as fast.
Crickets are quite easy to raise and prepare, and the main problem is making sure that they don't escape. Crickets can be kept in any fairly large container with high sides and a tight fitting lid. An aquarium or large glass container with a screen cover is a good choice. Place 3-4 inches of dry sand or potting soil in the bottom of the container and put three small shallow cups (about 1/2 in. high) on the sand. To one cup, add water and a cotton ball so the crickets won't drown. Keep it wet. To the second, add slightly moist (not wet) sand this will be where the crickets deposit their eggs. Place small bits of food in the third cup, not on the sand. Crickets eat almost anything edible, but very small nymphs prefer soft food such as vegetable scraps fruits, apples, or lettuce. Grains are good food for the larger crickets. Discard moldy food and clean the jar occasionally. Put several egg cartons or some crumpled paper in the aquarium for the crickets to roost on and for hiding places. Add 50-100 crickets. Mist the potting soil lightly every few days, and make sure that the crickets always have fresh food. You can probably start harvesting the crickets within a few months. Crickets are escape artists! It is a good idea to put a rock on top of the lid to ensure that you don't accidentally knock it off.
Flour Beetles
The flour beetle, Tribolium confusum is one of the easiest insects to rear indoors. However, they are small and may require a hand lens for close-up study. All the four stages of the insect live in flour or other grains. The female beetles lay their eggs in the flour and the small whitish larvae emerge and shed their skins 6-11 times before growing up fully. In time the small white pupae slowly turn to brownish beetles less than 1/8-inch long. The adults live long; some last from 6 months to 3 years. Their life cycle is about 40 days long when grown at 80°F and 75 percent relative humidity.
Rearing simply requires putting some white flour in the rearing vessel and adding the insects. Whole wheat flour and cornmeal are also suitable foods. Place 2-6 inches of flour in the container and add the insects. Disturb them as little as possible because they emit a slightly disagree able odor when stirred up. Be sure to thin the colony if it gets too crowded.
Earthworms
The small red worms (Rumbricus Rubellus) are ideal for composting, giving you with vermiculite in exchange for your kitchen and garden trash. The red worms multiply in such a rate that a healthy colony will double it's numbers every month. Grass and leaves could be used as bedding, but food either in the form of table scarps or manure was also needed. Worms can live off of just cardboard or compost but natural material like leaves, very wet, is better than the shredded newspaper, wet, wrung out, and fluffed up. The rule for feeding is only use the freshest of manure and organic waste, feed again when approx two thirds of the last feed has been converted to vermi-compost (the stage just prior to the darker and finer vermi-cast). Also if you are using other than manures, then everything should be ground to the smallest particle size to allow the bacteria to access all the material. Take a pumpkin and grind it and in a weeks time it will have been consumed big pieces will not.
When you harvest the worms rapidly replicate themselves but, when you leave too much cast behind, the mechanism for cocoon burst and egg creation is switched off. So harvest when approx two thirds of the last feed has been converted to vermi-compost and replication will be doubling every thirty days. Strip stock when cast appears, resets the pits and the growth rate remains near maximum..
No mating signs means the food is insufficient or the pH is wrong, as pH is the next biggest thing that goes wrong after too much cast. Pay attention to pH first or the wrong bacteria will grow and the worms can not use them to break down the food first, next keep moisture levels high and constant, So add large quantities of AG lime to keep the pH up to around 6.5 to 7.5 ideally. See Mother Earth articles for more information

Preparing the Insects
Mealworms
They need to be starved for 24 hours, to purge their guts. To separate mealworms from any attached food, place a handful of them in a colander and gently toss then remove any dead worms. Store 24hrs then wash the remaining live insects under cool water. Place the worms on paper towels and pat dry. The mealworms are ready to be cooked or frozen for later use. You don't really have to clean mealworms, though if you want, you can chop off their heads.
Crickets
Crickets can be placed in a refrigerator or other cold place, to slow them down before attempting to wash them. To do so with crickets, pour them all into a colander and cover it quickly with a piece of wire screening or cheesecloth. Rinse them, then dry them by shaking the colander until all the water drains.
The Montegnards would catch crickets put them in a container which had a 2 inch strip of oil painted on the inside. The oil kept the little buggers inside the jar. The little guys would hang out inside the jar for about 24 hours. This gave the crickets a chance to empty their intestinal tracts (the cause of some bitterness in the flavor). After they were "clean" they were dumped into a cloth bag. Cricket's heads, hind legs, and wing cases can be removed according to personal preference since cricket legs tend to get stuck in your teeth
Grass hoppers
Grass hoppers are prepared in the same way as crickets but it is best to pull the legs off before the cooking.
June beetle larvae
June beetle larvae are quite large and live in compost piles or rotting logs & stumps. The end of the abdomen, which contains the guts, is removed before the larvae are washed and fried. The Chinese simply feed them rice for a day or so until purge their guts.
June beetle
Beetles may be rinsed in water and have their wings removed before cooking.
Flour Beetles
The beetles and large stage larvae are less than 1/8-inch long and live in flour. You can sift them out with a fine sieve or simply use flower and all in your cooking.
Earthworms
Earthworms can be given a Water Purge, but Cleaning and Rinsing are necessary. After capturing them, drop them into clean, potable water for a few minutes. The worms will naturally purge or wash themselves out, after which you can eat them raw. Cutting small worms, Pressing worm pieces to remove dirt and sand, Further vigorous pressing of worm segments, Many times during the above processes the worm segments must be rinsed thoroughly in running water.

How would you cook them?
Simple to fancy apparently. Here are some.
Crickets
Crickets are roasted over a fire or hot coals. You may want to remove the legs, wings, and ovipositor of crickets after dry roasting them. If they have not been purged, the guts should be removed before eating.
The Montegnards dumped them into a cloth bag which was then hung by a fire to dry (cook slowly) or left in the pot and heated in situ on a slow fire. When dried they were munched as a tasty snack or used in rice meals.
Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers are prepared and eaten in a manner similar to that for crickets, but there are more crunchy.
Termites
Termites are roasted over a fire or hot coals or fried in a pot. After cooking, the wings are removed and salt is added to taste.
June Beetle and Larvae
The Hochung and other Wisconsin tribes especially prized these insects for nourishing the sick. They where slow roasted at low temperatures, mashed and made into broth. The Chinese battered and deep fried the grubs and called them “Grass Shrimp”.
Flour Beetles
The beetles and large stage larvae can sift them out and dry roasted or added to soup or simply use flower they live in and all in your bread. I have read where the old time sailors often considered them tastier than the hard tack they infested.

PREPARING DRY-ROASTED INSECTS (applies to crickets, grasshoppers, mealworms and most insects).
Take cleaned insects out of the freezer. Spread them out on a paper-towel covered baking sheet. Bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-2 hours, until the insects the insects are fairly brittle and crush easily can be easily crushed with a spoon or ground them till they are about consistency of wheat germ. Dry-roasted insect flour can be included in most any recipe such as cookies, your favorite bread recipe or added to a stew with other edibles or soups. You can even strain out the solids and drink the broth for nutritional value.
Earthworms
Generally they are fried up crispy or chopped fine for soup.

Earthworms Soup
Generally, earthworms are fried up crispy or chopped fine for soup

Vegetable Soup with Earthworm
Approximately 50 small worms and 1 large worm were chopped, cleaned, with repeated rinsing and squeezing to remove sand and dirt from the worms. A soup was prepared with water (2Cups), and blending 1 tomato, 1/2 t Basil, onion slice, and 1 clove garlic. A stalk of celery and a green onion was sliced and added and the soup boiled for a few minutes. The worms were sautéed for 1 minute with 1 t. sesame oil with a small amount of chopped ginger and chopped clove of garlic. This worm mix was pureed with a small amount of the vegetable soup, and then returned to the soup mix. Home made noodles were added to the soup and boiled for 5 minutes.
Result: a vegetable soup, with tomato red color and noodles.
Taste Tester 1 (Ron) very tasty, with only 1 grain of sand encountered in a cup of soup. No hint of worm, either in shape or taste, was discernable.
Taste Tester 2 (Ichi) ate a whole bowl of soup, and found this to be normal eating.
Taste Tester 3 (Nancy) found this like Minestrone soup, tasty and without any aftertaste of dirt or distress from worm shape

Simulated Chicken Dumpling Soup with Earthworm
Approximately 50 small worms and 1 large worm were chopped and cleaned with repeated rinsing and squeezing to remove sand and dirt from the worms.
A soup was prepared with water (2 Cups), 3 shakes each from the salt and pepper shakers (1/2 t. each), 1 chopped green onion, 1 chopped celery stalk. This soup was boiled for 5 minutes. The worms were sautéed for 1 minute with 1 t. sesame oil with a small amount of chopped ginger and chopped clove of garlic. The worm mix was put into the blender with a small amount of soup, and pureed, and then added back into the soup. Home made dumplings prepared with 1/2 t. Cinnamon, black pepper, and salt were added to the soup and boiled for 5 minutes. Lettuce leaves were added to the soup cups as a garnish at serving (they wilt into the soup).
Result: a dumpling soup, simulating chicken soup in that fat globules can be seen and the color is golden.
Taste Tester 1 (Ron) found it not as tasty as the above, but was reminded of chicken dumpling soup. No worm taste was detected, but in 1 dumpling out of 5 there were several grains of sand. However, in one spoonful of soup, a small segment of worm was sighted. Soup was spicy, from the black pepper, but this was appreciated. The color of the soup seemed appropriate, slightly green but mostly brown to light beige.
Taste Tester 2 (Ichi) was good, and had no problems with the taste, appearance, etc.
Taste Tester 3 (Nancy) suspected this was chicken soup due to the golden appearance and fat globules. The taste also reminded her of chicken soup. Suspected the worms were in the dumplings, and was surprised to learn that the brown color in some of the dumplings was due to Cinnamon and pepper! No worm pieces were visible in the soup. Impression is that a child would take this to be chicken soup, and readily eat it.

Oaxaca Grasshopper
Serves six (if you can fund six).
Ingredients
About 1000 grasshoppers (the younger the better)
1/2 cup chili sauce
pinch of salt
garlic
onion
1 lemon
1 cup guacamole
6 tortillas
Directions:
Soak the grasshoppers in clean water for 24 hours.
Boil them, then let dry.
Fry in a pan with garlic, onion, salt and lemon.
Roll up in tortillas with chili sauce and guacamole.
Fried Green Tomato Hornworms
Stuffing solely with tomato leaves for the better part of a month, Hornworms taste great with just about any summer vegetable, but this recipe draws inspiration from the cuisine of the Whistle Stop Cafe,
3 tablespoons olive oil
16 tomato hornworms
4 medium green tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
Salt and pepper to taste
White cornmeal
In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil. Then lightly fry the hornworms, about 4 minutes, taking care not to rupture the cuticles of each insect under high heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Season tomato rounds with salt and pepper, then coat with cornmeal on both sides.
In a large skillet, fry tomatoes until lightly browned on both sides
Top each round with 2 fried tomato hornworms.
Garnish the paired hornworms with a single basil leaf
 
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#2 ·
Around here, in the summer, there is an ubundance of grass hoppers. June bugs swarm to any source of light. I have heard that if you fry them up in a pan until they pop, and peal off the outer shell, it is a milk dud sized piece of pure protein for each bug. I have yet to try it. I've tried ants; dry and bland. I read that crickets, pound for pound, have more calories than beef.
 
#4 ·
June bugs swarm to any source of light. I have heard that if you fry them up in a pan
One thing special about June bugs and, more especially, their grubs, is the high quantity and digestibility of their fats. The local Ho Chung, and many other tribes I am sure, used slow roasted June bugs and their grubs medicinally. When someone was so sick or wreaked that could not digest ordinary foods, a broth was made with June Bugs to keep them alive and nurse them back to strength. By the way, the Chinese gather the grubs and feed them rice for a while to clean out their digestive tracks as well as, fatten them up. Then they are battered and deep-fried like shrimp. In fact they are often called grass or oak shrimp because they are found around the roots of oak trees.
 
#6 ·
There is a society devoted to culinary insect cooking, they argue that a few hundred years ago shrimp and lobster where considered bugs and only eaten by the lower classes. Apparently none of the higher classes actually tasted any of the little beasts. Someday, this may be true of some insects and worms. In the mean time you have a food source open to you that others would overlook. Survival is all about options!
 
#7 ·
I like chocolate covered grasshoppers...a friend of mine bought me a box overseas as a joke....joke was on him as I happily ate them, while he turned green. Nice nutty flavor, and the crunch is no worse than eating a kit-kat bar. The legs, however do get stuck in your teeth, so a toothpick afterwards is a must.
 
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