BajaNomad - Grasshopper Tacos. Anyone ???

Grasshopper Tacos. Anyone ???

KASHEYDOG - 11-9-2011 at 01:49 PM

Anybody had any of these ??? ( Tacos De Chapulines )

Had lunch at La Diferencia in Tijuana last week and had these for an appetizer. I'm going back for more soon... :yes:

Anybody know what other restaruants serv them.. :?:

http://www.ladiferencia.us/

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2011...

[Edited on 11-9-11 by KASHEYDOG]

FRIED GRASSHOPPERS nomad.JPG - 32kB

bufeo - 11-9-2011 at 02:02 PM

Haven't had them in Baja but did in Morelia.

Allen R

O.G. - 11-9-2011 at 02:04 PM

When I was a young boy, my mother used to work as a waitress in some high end restaurants. One evening she brought home some fried locusts that the Explorers Club had on their banquet menu. Tasted rather unique but not at all gross.

yum yum

mtgoat666 - 11-9-2011 at 02:21 PM

with increasing population, collapse of petroleum economy when oil supply is exhausted, and escalating climate change and impending change of our range and farm lands to dustbowls, most of us 99%ers will likely be be reduced to eating insect tacos.
so enjoy your beef and pork tacos today, because we all may be reduced to eating roaches, ants and locusts in 70 years!

Mengano - 11-9-2011 at 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666
with increasing population, collapse of petroleum economy when oil supply is exhausted, and escalating climate change and impending change of our range and farm lands to dustbowls, most of us 99%ers will likely be be reduced to eating insect tacos.
so enjoy your beef and pork tacos today, because we all may be reduced to eating roaches, ants and locusts in 70 years!

Won't all those changes also lower the number of insects? If there are no plants, what will the insects be eating?

KASHEYDOG - 11-9-2011 at 02:30 PM

Quote:

According to your estimate above, it sounds like we're all going to live longer. I guess that's a good thing... :?:

... I wasn't planning to get to 135, but if eating all that stuff is that good for ya, OK... :lol:

Hi KASHEYDOG,

Gypsy Jan - 11-9-2011 at 02:36 PM

You can also find chapulines tacos at some of the food vendor stands in the Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana.

(From Ed Bedford's column in the San Diego Reader.)

Comedor La Oaxaqueña

"Grasshopper-chomping’s a Oaxacan thing. And smart? For sure. When those locust swarms happen, you’re looking at hundreds of tons of free protein on the wing. Why not stick up the net and eat them before they eat your crops? So Oaxacans have made a virtue out of necessity and created a dish we should all love. Okay, it takes a couple of leaps of faith. The first is when the spiky back legs get stuck between your teeth. Don’t panic. You could rip your lip. The second is to learn not to look into their beady little eyes as you head them into your mouth. Because, unlike with a carne asada taco, you’re handling the en-tire creature here. Which is why it’s kinder to both sides to hide them all in a tortilla and make a taco of them.

You won’t find this dish at Taco Bell. You’ve got to search it out, and the nearest place I’ve found is deep in the shadowy northeast alleys of the Miguel Hidalgo Market in Tijuana’s Rio district. Comedor y Venta de Productos Auténticos Oaxaqueños is a delicious little bit of Oaxaca with everything from dresses to ollas to moles to clayudas (Mexican pizzas) to roasted chapulines — grasshoppers. The ladies are dressed in traditional Oaxacan garb, wide white pants with flowery decorations down the sides and a white top. The first time I crunched into a little grasshopper (after a shot of mezcal to kill the cowardice), it was a nice surprise, as long as I kept looking straight ahead. They’re crunchy. Salty. A little like shrimp shell, but taste-wise, a lot is covered by the lime. Fried-tasting, crackly, squishy, like peanuts with soft centers. I followed everybody else and folded a bunch of them in a corn tortilla to make a taco. That way they become tasty crunch inside the corn. ’Course, I’ve read scary stuff, that some grasshoppers caught in Oaxaca had lead and pesticide residue in them and others can pass on parasites if they’re not washed and cooked properly. But María says no. They select and wash and cook these little blighters thoroughly."

Comedor La Oaxaqueña, Mercado Miguel Hidalgo, Local No. 32 Planta Baja, Avenida Independencia a corner with Boulevard Sánchez Taboada, Zona Rio, Tijuana, 011-52-664-200-2804.

Also, from the San Diego Reader, El Tejate restaurant in Escondido:

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/dec/29/tin-fork-el-t...

[Edited on 11-9-2011 by Gypsy Jan]

Cypress - 11-9-2011 at 02:36 PM

Mud bugs are really good; boiled, fried, and any other way.

Kalypso - 11-9-2011 at 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KASHEYDOG
Anybody had any of these ??? ( Tacos De Chapulines )

Had lunch at La Diferencia in Tijuana last week and had these for an appetizer. I'm going back for more soon... :yes:

Anybody know what other restaruants serv them.. :?:

http://www.ladiferencia.us/

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2011...

[Edited on 11-9-11 by KASHEYDOG]

Chapulines!!! Eaten all over mainland Mexico but extremely common in Southern Mex. You'll see the chapulines vendors all over in Oaxaca City,and you'll see their customers going vendor to vendor to see who's got the choicest ones. They're kind of like crispy critters, crunchy, but not a tremendous amount of taste. If not eaten out of hand as a snack, they are frequently served as a taco filling or ground up and added to table salsa. For those in San Diego, Fiesta Oaxaqueño at the Escondido Swap Meet usually had chapulines that the get regularly flown in from Oaxaca.

If you liked the chapulines, you might also want to try escamoles, which I think are better anyway. Escamoles are ant eggs. They look like little grains of rice and are rich and savory. I've also had smoke agave gusanos (worms) which I thought were pretty darn awful.

Mengano - 11-9-2011 at 02:39 PM

Grasshoppers are kosher, too.

sanquintinsince73 - 11-9-2011 at 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kalypso

Quote:

Anybody know what other restaruants serv them.. :?:

http://www.ladiferencia.us/

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2011...

[Edited on 11-9-11 by KASHEYDOG]

I was going to say.....
http://youtu.be/Y3c5UHsXMs4

KASHEYDOG - 11-9-2011 at 02:51 PM

How about this link to La Diferencia and Andrew Zimmern

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StX4jSu5TeQ

KASHEYDOG - 11-12-2011 at 10:38 AM

Here's some more fun foods in Mexico & Baja

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhDQ3w9VGM4&feature=relat...

Get out to your local mercado and enjoy some real local food..... :yes:

Yeah...

Dave - 11-12-2011 at 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mengano
Grasshoppers are kosher, too.

But not those grasshoppers.

Bajaboy - 11-12-2011 at 03:17 PM

Very tasty....on the menu at a place I used to work at a number of years ago. Also served crickets but don't recall the Spanish name.

BajaBlanca - 11-12-2011 at 03:34 PM

CHAPULINES ARE SOLD BY THE BAG IN THE LOCAL MARKET IN OAXACA CITY:

THIS IS A PICTURE OF A TLAYUDA - I PERSONALLY DIDN'T LIKE IT - COLD BEANS AND OTHER STUFF ON A CRISPY COLD THINISH TORTILLA:

woody with a view - 11-12-2011 at 07:14 PM

i loved that market back in 1991 when i rode the overnight train from Mex City to Oax City. i really gotta get back to the mainland sometime. i had my first grasshopper, my first 4-6 types of REAL mo'le, and the surf in Oaxaca is insane!

these were the days!

edit: there is a market in tj REAL close to the border where you park in the middle and the shops surround the lot (i know, where is DK w/ his gps?). a buddy took me there once and i found a Oaxaca guy selling grasshoppers in a baggie, kinda like buying 1,2,3,4 fingers of buds back in the day!

i wish i knew where that place was.

[Edited on 11-13-2011 by woody with a view]

rsz_puerto_esco_87.jpg - 21kB

Dave - 11-12-2011 at 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by woody with a view
edit: there is a market in tj REAL close to the border where you park in the middle and the shops surround the lot (i know, where is DK w/ his gps?). a buddy took me there once and i found a Oaxaca guy selling grasshoppers in a baggie, kinda like buying 1,2,3,4 fingers of buds back in the day!

i wish i knew where that place was.

It's called Mercado Hidalgo and it's on the corner of 10th and Sanchez Taboada.

woody with a view - 11-12-2011 at 07:29 PM

oh, chezzz! thanks Dave!

KASHEYDOG - 11-12-2011 at 08:43 PM

Think I'll head down there Thursday and get some. Thanks Dave and Woody. Woody, that market is next to "Tocos Gordo", across for the Pemex station. Guess I'll stop and get some taco lingue while I'm there.... :yes:

...

woody with a view - 11-12-2011 at 08:54 PM

hmmmm.

JESSE - 11-13-2011 at 01:36 AM

Taste like chicken.

Pompano - 11-13-2011 at 05:58 AM

We grew up in western ND with locusts and grasshoppers. Always Treats. Thier potential as a food source is real...although maybe considered 'exoctic' to some.

When Randy and I were in the Peace Corps...called the Kennedy Corps for a short time when we joined up...we spent a year in Bander Shah, Iran and ate a lot of insects.

When I owned a fast Vulcan motorcycle I ate a lot of insects.

How to cook your grasshopper:

a few quick recipes...

From Orkin

Dry Roasted Grasshoppers
Spread fresh, frozen and cleaned insects on paper towels on a cookie sheet. Bake at 200° for 1-2 hours until desired state
of dryness is reached. Check state of dryness by attempting to crush insect with spoon.

Garlic Butter Fried Grasshoppers
1/4 cup butter
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup cleaned insects*

Melt butter in fry pan. Reduce heat. Sauté garlic in butter for 5 minutes. Add insects. Continue sautéing for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Grasshopper Fritters
from 'Ronald Taylor's "Butterflies in My Stomach"

3/4 cup sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 c grasshoppers
1 pt. heavy cream beaten stiff

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl. Slowly add milk and beat until smooth. Add egg and beat well.
Pluck off grasshopper wings and legs, heads optional. Dip insects in egg batter and deep fry. Salt and serve.

from Dr. Frog's Recipe Page

Parcht Locusts
This dish was discovered by William Dampier in 1687, while visiting the Bashee Islands (located between the Philippines and Taiwan). He described it in A New Voyage Round the World:

They had another Dish made of a sort of Locusts, whose Bodies were about an Inch and an half long, and as thick as the
top of one's little Finger; with large thin Wings, and long and small Legs. ...

The Natives would go out with small Nets, and take a Quart at one sweep. When they had enough, they would carry them home, and parch them over the Fire in an earthen Pan; and then their Wings and Legs would fall off, and their Heads and Backs would turn red like boil'd Shrimps, being before brownish. Their Bodies being full, would eat very moist, their Heads would crackle in one's Teeth.

Randy and I ate something like this recipe once....very good and crunchy...wish we could have had a cold brew to go with them.

Popcorn Crunch
Here's an easy treat to prepare and take to the drive-in movie. The kids will love it.

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
3 quarts popcorn, popped
1 cup dry roasted insects, chopped

Blend the butter and honey together in a saucepan and heat gently. Mix the popcorn with the insects and pour the butter-honey mixture over it. Mix well. Spread on a cookie sheet in a thin layer. Bake at 350° 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp. Break into bite-sized pieces.

Hmm...I'm gonna show this recipe to Dimas at his Mulege square taco stand...a new taste treat, maybe??

[Edited on 11-13-2011 by Pompano]

Mulegena - 11-13-2011 at 06:12 AM

Ok, so the rain woke me up, the plywood on the pickup needed moving (but didn't get moved--grrrr!) and the puppy needed to get thrown ou-- I mean to say allowed out of the house for his middle-night puppy prowl and all that means

soooo I'm up and hungry

but I don't want to eat grasshoppers -- I would if I had to, but...

had to look at the thread, right?

Here's a question: How do you "clean" insects? Like fish or camarones? Gut 'n scale 'em?
or like windows -- ask the guy at the Pemex station to do it?

Pompano - 11-13-2011 at 06:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mulegena
but I don't want to eat grasshoppers -- I would if I had to, but...

had to look at the thread, right?

Here's a question: How do you "clean" insects? Like fish or camarones? Gut 'n scale 'em?
or like windows -- ask the guy at the Pemex station to do it?

You know better...just pop 'em an' eat 'em..think of them as oysters!

deportes - 11-13-2011 at 10:42 AM

As far as I know chapulines eat vegetation! Some vegetation is poisonous, that would be my concern not their cleanliness? GL

KASHEYDOG - 11-13-2011 at 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by deportes
As far as I know chapulines eat vegetation! Some vegetation is poisonous, that would be my concern not their cleanliness? GL

...

...

...

...

deportes, You're supposed to put a smiley after a statement like that. Like one of these....." :lol:

".

I do assume you were just trying to be funny with that. Correct .. :?:

If not, then what do you think cows, buffalos, sheep, chickens, deer, elk, ducks, pigs and turkeys eat ??? How about the dreaded halibut, clams, oysters, crabs, mussels and scallops ???

BTW... what DO YOU eat that has never eaten something else...(plant, animal or sea creature).... :?:

Interesting that after thousands of years of grasshoppers being used as a staple and source of protein you've come up with such a brilliant revelation. I'm sure you don't like them, especially since you've obviously never had one. I however, am LIVING proof that they're delicious and not poisonous. But don't worry, you just stick to TACO BELL and leave the grasshoppers to the rest of us. Just stop with your bad reviews until you've tried whatever it is............. :yes:

...

BTW.... be careful of those Taco Bell muchacha burritos. I hear they use 2 day old unfertilized chicken embryos in those things....

...

...

...

[Edited on 11-13-11 by KASHEYDOG]

KASHEYDOG - 11-13-2011 at 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mulegena
Here's a question: How do you "clean" insects? Like fish or camarones? Gut 'n scale 'em?
or like windows -- ask the guy at the Pemex station to do it?

Good question, Mulegena. I think they use tiny sponges...........

...;

...

Grasshoppers are a local delicacy, produced and consumed in households and are a cheap source of protein. In season, grasshoppers are an important part of the local diet. Grasshoppers are even important in business, big and small, as they are sold in local markets and exported to the US.

In this article the grasshoppers will be discussed more in depth in relation to ecology, preparation, consumption, recipes, and economics.

Grasshoppers consumed are harvested from corn fields, and alfalfa fields. The grasshoppers harvested are considered to be semi-domesticated, because they live on (and are normally collected from) corn fields. The harvest occurs during the late summer and autumn (August through December).

Grasshoppers are harvested in the following manner. The harvesting occurs early in the morning when the ground is cool and the Grasshoppers are dormant.

The Grasshoppers are caught with nets in the fields. The harvesters work for a couple of hours and put Grasshoppers into a bag or box. When it is cooler they will clean the catch, eliminate unwanted bugs, etc. The Grasshoppers will be left in a cool dark place for 2-3 days so they can clean themselves.

After the Grasshoppers are harvested they are prepared. The ways Grasshoppers are prepared are as follows. After the Grasshoppers are clean, they are sorted by life stage, nymph or adult, and by size. In general, Grasshoppers harvested from corn fields.

Now, bring water to a boil (with garlic and herbs).Then adds the Grasshoppers quickly! Remove the Grasshoppers to a cast iron plate for toasting.

Add one of two flavors, lime y salt or roasted with garlic. Eat them hot with a fresh tortilla as the southern Mexicans from the state of Oaxaca eat them.

[Edited on 11-13-11 by KASHEYDOG]

Cypress - 11-13-2011 at 03:41 PM

Not hungry enough to eat insects. But hoe cakes and fried bread? I'm good to go.