Fried Grasshopper Recipe

Good Enough for John the Baptist

Today's blog entry was inspired by a reader who had a beef with me after I shared the url for a web page with recipes for fried grasshoppers.

No, I'm not kidding.

Although I've not yet worked up sufficient curiosity to munch on insects, I do know a few natural health seekers who enjoy eating grasshoppers.

I'm told grasshoppers are especially tasty when coated with a nice chocolate covering.

John the Baptist, of course, liked his grasshoppers dipped in honey.

And let us not forget Po Campo from the marvelous novel "Lonesome Dove" who fried up a mess of tasty grasshoppers every morning for Gus and Captain Call's cattle drive to Montana.

Grasshoppers, by the way, are an excellent source of protein.

Anyway, the reader who scolded me about the grasshopper recipes tickled my funny bone, so I thought you might enjoy reading a sample of the kind of letters that keep me chuckling in the CasaDay editorial chair:

Chet, shame on you passing on this info... grasshoppers are good insects... don't encourage idiots to fry them... there are enuf sickos out there who torture critters... Yes, I'm serious... no one needs to eat grasshoppers as food is not scarce and how many folks get lost in the wild? Gimme a break!

My own love for critters aside, this sort of feedback is all part of being an editor who monitors the natural health circus.

And, yes, of course I'm going to provide you with the actual fried grasshopper recipe that so annoyed a reader:

Charles Griffith's Fried Grasshopper Recipe

First, catch a bunch of grasshoppers and leave them in a jar overnight to purge (if you're finicky). Then boil them for ten minutes, after which you can easily remove the large legs, and wings, too, if they are also large.

Next, in a bowl, beat one or more eggs, depending on how many grasshoppers you have, to which you add the little critters after removing the legs and wings.

Then put the beaten-egg-covered "hoppers" in a paper sack or plastic bag which contains some yellow or white cornmeal and shake.

Next, place the egg and cornmeal-covered grasshoppers one by-one into a small frying pan with an inch (2.54 cm) of hot cooking oil and fry until golden brown.

After cooking, remove the hoppers from the skillet and place them on paper towels to soak up any excess oil.

Our family experimented by eating them plain, and dipped in mustard, catsup, horseradish, or honey. We could have tried lots of other dips, too, I suppose.

We liked them best with honey; small wonder, we have heard that the "honey and locusts" that John, the Baptist, ate, was really a mis-translation of "honey and grasshoppers." Can anyone verify that?

Anyway, eating them fried and without any honey or catsup, etc., they tasted something like fried okra. We liked them well enough to have had them several times now.

Okay, now you have a recipe to add to your collection that's not going to be in the files of most natural health seekers. Click here to read Charles' original fried grasshopper recipe.

Bon Appetit!

Chet "Keep Hopping" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com