Illinois horticulture educators find surprising ways to use cicadas in favorite foods

In late May, a team of Illinois Extension educators created and tasted a variety of cicada recipes for the Good Growing podcast.

Ken Johnson and Chris Enroth, Good Growing podcast hosts, and Extension horticulture educators, recruited entomologist Kacie Athey, assistant professor and Extension specialist in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and Kristin Bogdonas, Extension nutrition and wellness educator, to assist them with their cicada-themed podcast, which included taste-testing cicada recipes, according to a new release from Illinois Extension.

Extension staff, master gardeners, master naturalists and community members were invited to sample the cicada-themed recipes during the peak of the cicada emergence in Springfield, according to the release.

The cicada recipes included fried tempura, pizza, ice cream and plain roasted cicadas.

Johnson collected newly emerged Brood 13 cicadas from maple trees in his backyard and froze them days before recipe testing. At this life stage, the cicadas were white and soft-bodied with soft wings, according to the release.

The team treated cicadas as if they were any other allergen and steered clear of collecting cicadas from any pesticide-ridden areas, according to the release.

On event day, the team quickly found out that after thawing the cicadas followed by blanching them, the room smelled of cooked asparagus, according to the release.

Participants found themselves pleasantly surprised by the taste of roasted cicada, according to the release.

“It’s actually delicious and tastes just like a vegetable,” Bogdonas said in the release.

More guests joined as tasting began, according to the release.

During the tasting, the podcast team led a discussion on periodical cicadas and answered questions about the historical emergence and nutritional values, according to the release.

The top-voted dish of the day was the fried tempura cicadas, followed by pizza, ice cream and plain roasted cicadas.

Numerous guests said the chopped cicadas on the ice cream smelled like almonds. One person asked for seconds, and many took samples home. Several complimented the chef, according to the release.

To watch the podcast, visit go.illinois.edu/EatingCicadas.