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By Jiminy - cricket protein is a thing!

Pseudonym

By Pseudonym
in Diet & nutrition

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Pseudonym Veteran member

Pseudonym

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Now you don't have to feel so guilty about eating all those nasty methane-emitting cows. Eat crickets instead, and reduce your environmental impact.

https://www.exoprotein.com

(Soy, dairy, grain and gluten-free. Paleo and environmentally-friendly.)

 

While the consumption of insects has gained renewed attention recently, it is in fact nothing new. As eclectic omnivores, it’s likely that humans have consumed insects, the most abundant terrestrial life form excluding bacteria, for an exceedingly long time. Today, 80% of the world still eats over 1,600 species of insects, from Jing Leed in Thailand to Escamoles in Mexico to Casu Marzu in Italy. Insects are exceptionally nutritious. They are high in protein and low in saturated fats and sugars. They are a complete protein, containing all the essential amino acids, and are also high in micronutrients such as iron, calcium and B-vitamins. Crickets, for example, contain substantially more iron than beef. Insects have marginal environmental impact. They produce virtually no methane, reproduce extremely quickly, and require minimal feed, water and space.It is estimated that crickets are 20x more efficient to raise for protein than cattle. We need a new source of protein, one that can sustain the world into the future. Earth’s population is growing by 75 million people each year. To meet the demands of this immense growth, we’ll have to triple our food production. Conventional livestock is simply not a sustainable food source, on the whole producing more greenhouse gases than the entire transport sector. The amount of water required to produce just one pound of steak equals that consumed by a family of four for a full year. At Exo, we believe that insects are one of the solutions to humanity’s protein dilemma. They are as natural to eat as fruits and vegetables and are a more complete form of protein than many livestock alternatives. Insects can provide us, ethically and sustainably, with the nutrients that our bodies require.

 

I ordered some last week (mostly as a Christmas present for a friend who's quit his bodybuilding diet on account of its terrible environmental impact). They arrived today. I'll let you know how they taste soon...

:wacko:

 

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Pseudonym Veteran member

Pseudonym

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Firstly, everybody needs protein. Lifters just like to have more of it. The issue is that most meat-sourced proteins have negative environmental consequences. Crickets have a smaller impact than most.

 

Just because they're calling it cricket flour, don't think it means carbs. It's just called that because they've turned the crickets into a fine, dry powder to make people less squeamish. (And judging from my office experiment this afternoon, even then it's a tough sell!)

 

Here's the actual nutritional info in cricket flour - about 70% protein... not bad!

http://www.cricketflours.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/North-American-CF-100-Pure-Back-Qtrlb.jpg

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GyzzBrah Senior member

GyzzBrah

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1 hour ago, maccaz said:

Gyzz stop trying to sound intelligent. 

It is called flour because of the consistency, not the macros.

 

Peso, how does it taste ? Intrigued. Id have no issue using it as protein source once price becomes more viable lol. Asked the mrs if she would eat it she thought i was joking 

 

Well jokes on you, because that has no relevance to what I said.

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Pseudonym Veteran member

Pseudonym

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I should have added.... Those nutrition stats are for the pure "cricket flour", not these particular bars. The bars themselves are not that great as a protein bars go - not massive amounts of protein, and quite high in carbs and fats. Probably because the main ingredient is actually almond... not cricket.

 

As for taste, I bought a box of 12 sweet bars (chocolate flavour, blueberry, etc) and a sample pack of 3 savoury flavours. Can't report back on the sweet ones yet - they're the Christmas present - but I tried the savoury...

 

Barbeque - not bad. Just like BBQ chips really, and it masks everything else. Perfectly edible.

 

Mango curry - pretty average. The flavour isnt awful, but its a little strange in a bar that looks like it should be sweet.

 

Mediterranean - just no. A very strange combo of almonds and sundried tomato, which looks good on paper, but I really wasn't a fan of.

 

It's worth noting that you wouldn't know there were crickets... It's more the unusual flavours that let it down. I'm hopeful the more "normal" sweet bars will be better.

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Pseudonym Veteran member

Pseudonym

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As a protein bar, you can buy it from Exoprotein (link above). As a powder, just Google "cricket flour".

 

Thinking about it a bit more, I reckon the other reason for calling it cricket flour, and using it in baking, is because crickets are probably not very water soluble. :tongue:

 

Elmo, you could give us the answer there, couldn't you? Mix it with some hydrophilic compound or something. Isn't that what lecithin is good for? We should go into business!

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maccaz Veteran member

maccaz

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7 minutes ago, jimmybro1 said:

Interesting! Just seen this post. 

 

Can't bet those macros, and its complete protein! 

 

They must farm crickets? 

 

i had a bit of a read and yeah they farm them at a few places in the US

 

as long as they are clean and processed properly (i dunno whats involved) and it becomes more mainstream enough that the price is similar or less than WPI (I feel as though it should be cheaper than WPI because crickets are so cheap as pet food for starters)then I wouldn't have any problem eating this often.

 

one thing i thought, why not cut out the middle man and just buy them from the pet shop and eat them live, saw these the other day at pet shop, asked gf if i can buy one of these and let them loose in our apartment, she was not impressed

 

bucket%20of%20bugs.png

 

 

 

 

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jimmybro1 Veteran member

jimmybro1

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25 minutes ago, maccaz said:

 

i had a bit of a read and yeah they farm them at a few places in the US

 

as long as they are clean and processed properly (i dunno whats involved) and it becomes more mainstream enough that the price is similar or less than WPI (I feel as though it should be cheaper than WPI because crickets are so cheap as pet food for starters)then I wouldn't have any problem eating this often.

 

one thing i thought, why not cut out the middle man and just buy them from the pet shop and eat them live, saw these the other day at pet shop, asked gf if i can buy one of these and let them loose in our apartment, she was not impressed

 

bucket%20of%20bugs.png

 

 

 

 

Yeah the price is a little expensive but not to bad. 

 

The website Pseudo post was about 220USD for 5 lbs 

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jimmybro1 Veteran member

jimmybro1

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Talking to the lads in the office going to start a cricket farm in Vietnam prefect climate for it a cheap land outside of the cities. 

 

Just wondering if the bowels of the critters need to be vacated before milling ? I read they become cannibalistic when deprived of a food source. 

 

Theory is  more supply more mainstream cheaper value. 

 

The green alternative to the swoilder path of glory 

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Pseudonym Veteran member

Pseudonym

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Well, Exo (the company that makes the cricket protein bars) just sent me an email advertising a line of tshirts made from - you guessed it - cricket fibre.

 

I presume that means there's still quite a lot of byproduct... all the shell, probably. You wouldn't want to be the bloke tasked with de-shelling, would you? Shelling prawns is bad enough. :tongue:

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jimmybro1 Veteran member

jimmybro1

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9 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

Well, Exo (the company that makes the cricket protein bars) just sent me an email advertising a line of tshirts made from - you guessed it - cricket fibre.

 

I presume that means there's still quite a lot of byproduct... all the shell, probably. You wouldn't want to be the bloke tasked with de-shelling, would you? Shelling prawns is bad enough. :tongue:

They would probably use a water bath when cooking that will canter the shells (light phase) from the flesh (heavy phase) 

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jimmybro1 Veteran member

jimmybro1

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46 minutes ago, Pseudonym said:

You've given this some thought, Jimmybro! ?

Did a little more research look at how they do it for shrimps the process seems rather manual. 

 

The shrimps are individual aligned on a conveyor and feed through a machine which saws the shell and brushes remove the shell. 

 

With crickets, I don't think they have much of a shell more the legs are the issue. Apparently you can buy them in Holland at the supermarket people in the office are saying and the legs are always the issue with cooking them.  

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