Kric8 – Crickets in your diet
We do get a fine selection of weird and wonderful products to try here at BakingBar but crickets have to be among the most unusual yet. However we have read in the past few years several articles which promote the use of insects in our diets to boost our protein intakes.
So why crickets?
Well any insect is normally a source of protein. However Kric8 specialise in crickets. A report released by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization states that there are more than 1,900 edible insect species on Earth, with around 2 billion people already eating many of these with the UK, USA and Europe being the main countries not regularly including these knowingly in our diet. Why??
Well Kric8 believes that it may be down to our love of insect characters in cartoons when we are growing up. By giving them cute faces and names it would put any child off ever wanting to eat any cartoon cricket!
You’re already using insect products!
Yep! You’re already eating or using some insect products every day. Humans have been using insects for many purposes for thousands of years, including eating them.
Honey, Propolis, Bee pollen – From bees and probably the most well-known of the insect products available.
Shellac – A resin from the female Lac bug, found on trees in India and Thailand and used as a food glaze and in coloured wood finishes.
Silk – A natural protein fibre mainly from the silk moth caterpillars.
Cochineal – Used as a red fabric and food colorant from the female scale insect.
Crickets are tiny, is the protein worth it?
The protein content of insects varies depending on the species and it can even be different between sub species and like most things diet and environment are among the contributing factors effecting this.
In the table below you can see the protein content in 100g of cricket powder compared to the same 100g of different protein sources
(Lots more detail on this here including links to the UN)
You can also read lots more on this written by Kric8 here.
What Cricket products are available?
Well this is where it gets interesting. First of all as you would expect you can buy roasted crickets from Kric8, both honey and mustard and dry roasted flavours.
But this is the best part. Kric8 has released Cricket Powder, which is essentially Cricket Flour. So if looking at a cricket instantly puts you off that is fine, you can incorporate it into other foods in the ingredients itself. Kric8’s Cricket Power is made from 100% Canadian raised crickets. The adult crickets are between 6 and 8 weeks old before they are harvested, cleaned and processed into a fine powder.
What could I use this in?
Well we have a couple of examples. But essentially anywhere you use flour (Plain flour as cricket powder contains no raising agents) you can substitute part of the flour with cricket powder. We have a couple of recipes where you could easily do this.
This is one of our favourite flavour packed recipes. If you’re worried you might be able to taste the crickets then this is the perfect recipe for you. with ginger and cinnamon included in this recipe it will disguise any taste.
Even our New York Style Cookies are an option! Containing plain flour you can substitute 30% of this with Kric8 Cricket Flour. Throw in some extra dark chocolate chips for a bit of extra indulgence.
The list goes on and on. You can incorporate cricket powder into lots of meals and recipes. The argument of why to incorporate cricket products in your diet is very very strong. We believe you will see a lot more insect products coming onto the market in coming years and it could solve a lot of food shortage problems if we start looking beyond what we have done in the past. Kric8 have written a great article arguing these points in their Why include crickets in your diet.
