Crickets and other edible insects have been consumed by humans for centuries and are valued as an important source of protein in many parts of the world. However, the idea of incorporating insects into our diets can be off-putting to many in Western cultures. Cricket meal offers a more palatable way to unlock the impressive nutritional benefits of crickets while supporting more sustainable food systems.
Cricket meal refers to crickets that have been dried, roasted, and ground into a fine flour or powder. This superfood flour can then be seamlessly incorporated into foods and recipes as a protein boost. As consumer interest in plant-based proteins, meat alternatives, and environmentally friendly eating grows, cricket meal presents an exciting new addition to the modern pantry.
Nutritional Benefits of Crickets and Cricket Meal
Crickets pack a powerful nutritional punch, containing beneficial protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber and more. Here’s an overview of why these hoppers deliver superfood status:
High-Quality Complete Protein
- Gram for gram, crickets contain comparable amounts of protein as beef or fish. Cricket meal typically contains 55-65% protein by weight.
- The protein found in crickets includes all 9 essential amino acids that humans must get from food sources. This makes crickets a complete protein.
- The protein in crickets has an excellent PDCAAS (Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score) of 0.86, similar to protein from eggs or milk.
- Protein from crickets is highly digestible and efficiently utilized by the human body.
See this citation on insect protein
Rich in Vitamins and Minerals
- Cricket meal provides important micronutrients like iron, calcium, B12, riboflavin, and more. Just two tablespoons of cricket powder contains 10-15% of your daily iron needs. (Read this from Healthline)
- Crickets are one of the few non-animal sources of vitamin B12, an essential nutrient for red blood cell formation and brain function.
- The iron in cricket meal is heme iron, the most bioavailable form that is readily absorbed by the body. Iron from plant sources is non-heme and not as easily used.
High in Beneficial Fiber
- Crickets contain a good amount of fiber, around 5-7 grams per 100-gram serving. This aids digestion and gut health.
- The chitin found in an insect’s exoskeleton provides insoluble fiber that functions as a prebiotic to feed healthy gut bacteria.
- Prebiotic fiber from crickets encourages the growth of beneficial bifidobacteria and lactobacilli strains in the digestive system.
Low in Fat
- Cricket meal contains significantly less fat and saturated fat than animal protein sources like beef or pork.
- Crickets raised specifically for food production are not high in fat, unlike their wild counterparts. Farmed crickets contain 5-8% fat compared to 15% in wild crickets.
- Cricket fat’s fatty acid profile includes healthy unsaturated fats like omega-3s. However, the overall fat content is low.
Abundant Micronutrients
Beyond protein, fiber, and vitamins, crickets also supply an array of beneficial trace minerals:
- Zinc: Supports immune function and enzyme reactions
- Selenium: Has antioxidant properties to protect cells
- Magnesium: Important for nerve and muscle function
- Phosphorus: Helps strengthen bones and teeth
- Manganese: Aids metabolism and brain function
This stellar nutrient profile shows why crickets can be considered a true superfood. When processed into a versatile cricket meal, it becomes easy to add this nutrition to your diet.
Sustainability Benefits of Crickets vs Traditional Livestock
One of the most compelling reasons to embrace cricket meal is its sustainability factor. Breeding crickets requires just a fraction of the natural resources needed to raise traditional livestock.
Vastly Less Feed Required
- Crickets need just 1.7 lbs of feed to produce 1 lb of protein mass, compared to cattle which require 10 lbs of feed per 1 lb of protein gain.
- This means crickets are nearly 6 times more efficient at converting feed to protein than cattle.
Dramatically Less Water Usage
- To produce the same amount of protein as crickets, cattle require 43 times more water.
- Crickets are cold-blooded and do not require water for temperature regulation like cows or chickens. This makes them far more water-efficient.
Significantly Smaller Land Use
- 1,000 sq feet of land can produce 150 lbs of crickets, compared to just 40 lbs of beef.
- Vertical cricket farming allows production in a small footprint not possible with grazing livestock.
Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Insects like crickets generate 80% less methane during digestion compared to cows. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.
- The manure from crickets produces fewer nitrous oxide emissions than traditional livestock waste and manure lagoons.
- Overall carbon footprint of farming crickets is estimated to be twice as low as chicken, pork or beef production.
Raising insects is undeniably a more sustainable system to meet global protein demand while conserving precious resources like land, water and feed. Cricket meal offers an eco-friendly protein source.
Using Cricket Meal in Recipes and Foods
Cricket meal is a versatile ingredient that can be incorporated seamlessly into recipes in a variety of ways:
Adding to Baked Goods
- Replace up to 25% of the flour in recipes for cookies, muffins, breads, pancakes, etc. This adds a protein punch.
- For every 1 cup of flour, use 3/4 cup flour + 1/4 cup cricket powder.
Blending into Smoothies
- Add 2-4 tablespoons of cricket powder per smoothie for extra protein, vitamins, and minerals.
- Works well blended with berries, greens, nut butters, oats, seeds, yogurt and milk.
Mixing into Granola and Overnight Oats
- Use cricket powder in place of part of the regular flour when making granola bars or clusters.
- Stir into overnight oats along with chia seeds, nut butter, fruit and milk for added nutrition.
Boosting Protein Content of Meals
- Make “protein crumbles” by sautéing cricket powder into olive oil and seasoning. Use like meat crumbles.
- Add cricket powder to meatballs, burgers, meatloaf and chilis for an extra protein kick.
Sprinkling on Popcorn or Roasted Veggies
- Drizzle olive oil on popcorn or roasted veggies then sprinkle on 1-2 tablespoons of cricket powder.
Blending into Nut Butters and Nutrition Balls
- Add cricket powder when making homemade nut and seed butters in the food processor.
- Mix into no-bake energy or protein bite recipes along with oats, nut butter, seeds, dried fruit, and honey/maple syrup.
With its mild, nutty taste cricket meal integrates seamlessly into foods without overpowering flavors. Get creative with adding this nutrient powerhouse into your diet!
Cricket Meal in Commercial Food Products
Beyond uses at home, cricket meal is also gaining traction as an ingredient used by food brands looking to add sustainable plant-based protein to their products.
Protein Powders and Smoothie Mixes
- Several companies like Cricket Flours, Entomo Farms, and Exo now sell cricket protein powders to blend into shakes.
- Smoothie mix pouches contain cricket flour along with oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruit for on-the-go nutrition.
Protein Bars and Chips
- Cricket protein bars offer between 10-20g of high-quality protein per bar, at least 25% coming from cricket.
- Brands like Eat Grub, Chirps Chips, and Cricket Protein make chips using cricket flour.
Baking Mixes and Cookies
- Baking mixes make it easy to add cricket flour to muffins, breads and more.
- Pre-made cricket protein cookies provide a tasty way to get extra protein and nutrients.
Pasta and Baked Goods
- Chirps Pasta sells the first cricket flour pasta to boost nutrition of a pantry staple.
- Know Foods, Bitty Foods, and others add cricket flour into wraps, baked goods and bread.
The cricket meal used in these innovative products provides quality nutrition in an eco-responsible way. Demand for such sustainable proteins continues to grow.
Overcoming the “Ick Factor” of Eating Insects
For many people, there is an automatic aversion and disgust reaction to the thought of intentionally eating insects of any kind. Cricket meal offers a way to overcome this “ick factor” and make insect eating more approachable:
Don’t See It, Don’t Think About It
- In powder form, cricket meal looks no different than regular flour so you can easily forget it contains crickets.
- This helps overcome the psychological barrier of knowingly eating visible insects. Ignorance is bliss!
Mild, Nutty Taste
- Roasted crickets take on a neutral flavor profile, with a mild nutty and umami taste.
- When used in the right recipes, any “buggy” flavor is undetectable. You just get extra nutrition.
Don’t Reject Until You Try
- Most people are pleasantly surprised when they actually try foods made with cricket powder, expecting a strong taste that isn’t there.
- The best way to get over the notion of eating insects is to simply give cricket recipes a chance yourself. You’ll likely become a convert.
Focus on Health and Sustainability Benefits
- Keep front of mind all the positives of getting high-quality protein, nutrients, and fiber in an eco-friendly way. This helps overcome reservations about eating crickets.
The “yuck” factor of entomophagy (aka eating insects) is understandable. But cricket meal offers an approachable transition into accepting insects as food.
Key Takeaways on Cricket Meal
Here are the main points that showcase why finely milled cricket powder deserves a place in modern pantries and diets:
- Cricket meal provides exceptional complete protein, healthy fats, essential vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc and B12, prebiotic fiber, and more. This nutrient profile offers true superfood status.
- Crickets require dramatically less water, land, and feed inputs than traditional livestock to produce the same amount of protein. This makes cricket farming exponentially more sustainable than beef, chicken or pork.
- Dried, milled cricket powder can seamlessly be incorporated into recipes to naturally boost nutrition. From baked goods to smoothies and more, the applications are endless.
- Pre-made products like protein bars, chips, granola and pasta allow easy inclusion of cricket nutrition into daily eating habits.
- The mild taste of roasted crickets does not overpower other flavors. Cricket meal blends in seamlessly. Focusing on sustainability and nutrition over the “ick” factor helps make eating insects more approachable.
Cricket meal offers an exciting new tool for adding nutritious, eco-friendly protein into diets. This flour made from ground crickets is packed with benefits both for human health and planetary health. It’s time to embrace crickets as a superfood and start cooking with cricket meal!
FAQs
Does cricket meal taste bad or buggy?
When roasted, crickets take on a neutral, slightly nutty and savory umami flavor. The cricket taste is very mild in cricket meal flour and blends well into recipes without imparting any strong buggy taste.
What recipes can I make with cricket meal?
The possibilities are endless! Use cricket powder in place of regular flour in baked goods like muffins, breads and cookies, blend into smoothies, sprinkle on oatmeal or vegetables, mix into granola and dough, add to meatballs or burgers for extra protein, and more.
Is eating insects safe? Are there any risks?
Farmed crickets raised specifically for human consumption go through processing to kill pathogens and remove insect parts. Eating products made with cricket meal flour is perfectly safe, though individuals with shellfish allergies may need to exercise caution.
How environmentally friendly is cricket farming compared to other protein sources?
Multiple studies show crickets require drastically less water, feed, and land to produce the same edible protein weight as beef or poultry. The carbon footprint of farming insects is estimated to be twice as low as traditional livestock production.
Where can I buy cricket meal to start cooking with it?
Several health food stores now carry cricket meal flour from brands like Cricket Flours, Exo Protein and Entomo Farms. You can also order online directly from these cricket powder companies. Look for roasted cricket meal flour to get the best neutral taste.
Closing Thoughts
Cricket meal is truly a win-win – it offers tremendous benefits for both human nutrition and environmental sustainability. As interest continues to grow around plant-based proteins, meat alternatives, and environmentally responsible eating habits, nutrient-packed cricket powder provides an exciting new addition to our modern food landscape. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and give crickets a try in your kitchen! Who knows, these protein-packed hoppers might just become your new favorite superfood.
