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Cicadas 2021 - Brood X


FXW176
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In case you're hungry!

Who to Cook:

Newly hatched cicadas, called tenerals, are considered best for eating because their shells have not hardened. It is best to collect these in the very early hours of the morning, just after they have emerged but before they have time to climb up out of reach. The best way to do this is to simply go outside with a brown paper bag and start scooping them in. You can cook with them immediately, or refrigerate them (they will remain alive but will mature much more slowly) or freeze them. Keep in mind that freezing will work best for those that you are going to roast, as the consistency of the cicada may change and make them inappropriate for dishes that call for fresh cicadas. If you are unable to get any tenerals, then mature females are the next best thing. Adult males have very hollow abdomens and will not be much of a mouthful, but the females are filled with fat. Just be sure to remove all the hard parts, such as wings and legs, before you use the adults. These parts will not harm you, but they are also not very tasty.

Soft-Shelled Cicadas Ingredients:

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

60 freshly emerged 17-year cicadas

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups flour

Salt and pepper to season the flour

1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions: Marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for several hours. (Note: You can skip this step and go directly to the egg step instead.) Dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently sauté until they are golden brown.

Yield: 4 main dish servings

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15 minutes ago, Stormfly said:

In case you're hungry!

Who to Cook:

Newly hatched cicadas, called tenerals, are considered best for eating because their shells have not hardened. It is best to collect these in the very early hours of the morning, just after they have emerged but before they have time to climb up out of reach. The best way to do this is to simply go outside with a brown paper bag and start scooping them in. You can cook with them immediately, or refrigerate them (they will remain alive but will mature much more slowly) or freeze them. Keep in mind that freezing will work best for those that you are going to roast, as the consistency of the cicada may change and make them inappropriate for dishes that call for fresh cicadas. If you are unable to get any tenerals, then mature females are the next best thing. Adult males have very hollow abdomens and will not be much of a mouthful, but the females are filled with fat. Just be sure to remove all the hard parts, such as wings and legs, before you use the adults. These parts will not harm you, but they are also not very tasty.

Soft-Shelled Cicadas Ingredients:

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

60 freshly emerged 17-year cicadas

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups flour

Salt and pepper to season the flour

1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions: Marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for several hours. (Note: You can skip this step and go directly to the egg step instead.) Dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently sauté until they are golden brown.

Yield: 4 main dish servings

You serious, Clark?

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23 minutes ago, Stormfly said:

In case you're hungry!

Who to Cook:

Newly hatched cicadas, called tenerals, are considered best for eating because their shells have not hardened. It is best to collect these in the very early hours of the morning, just after they have emerged but before they have time to climb up out of reach. The best way to do this is to simply go outside with a brown paper bag and start scooping them in. You can cook with them immediately, or refrigerate them (they will remain alive but will mature much more slowly) or freeze them. Keep in mind that freezing will work best for those that you are going to roast, as the consistency of the cicada may change and make them inappropriate for dishes that call for fresh cicadas. If you are unable to get any tenerals, then mature females are the next best thing. Adult males have very hollow abdomens and will not be much of a mouthful, but the females are filled with fat. Just be sure to remove all the hard parts, such as wings and legs, before you use the adults. These parts will not harm you, but they are also not very tasty.

Soft-Shelled Cicadas Ingredients:

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

60 freshly emerged 17-year cicadas

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups flour

Salt and pepper to season the flour

1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions: Marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for several hours. (Note: You can skip this step and go directly to the egg step instead.) Dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently sauté until they are golden brown.

Yield: 4 main dish servings

Bear Grylls approves.

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37 minutes ago, Stormfly said:

It's pretty amazing they take 17 years when you think about it.  Most dogs don't live that long!

That’s how they’ve been able to stay around I think. No other creature is able to adapt to that 17 year cycle. Cicadas themselves can’t defend themselves, so they’re just snacks for birds. Probably good snacks too.

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2 minutes ago, Rhino16 said:

That’s how they’ve been able to stay around I think. No other creature is able to adapt to that 17 year cycle. Cicadas themselves can’t defend themselves, so they’re just snacks for birds. Probably good snacks too.

Predator satiation theory as well. Fascinating - albeit kind of creepy looking creatures. 

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19 hours ago, Stormfly said:

In case you're hungry!

Who to Cook:

Newly hatched cicadas, called tenerals, are considered best for eating because their shells have not hardened. It is best to collect these in the very early hours of the morning, just after they have emerged but before they have time to climb up out of reach. The best way to do this is to simply go outside with a brown paper bag and start scooping them in. You can cook with them immediately, or refrigerate them (they will remain alive but will mature much more slowly) or freeze them. Keep in mind that freezing will work best for those that you are going to roast, as the consistency of the cicada may change and make them inappropriate for dishes that call for fresh cicadas. If you are unable to get any tenerals, then mature females are the next best thing. Adult males have very hollow abdomens and will not be much of a mouthful, but the females are filled with fat. Just be sure to remove all the hard parts, such as wings and legs, before you use the adults. These parts will not harm you, but they are also not very tasty.

Soft-Shelled Cicadas Ingredients:

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

60 freshly emerged 17-year cicadas

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups flour

Salt and pepper to season the flour

1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions: Marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for several hours. (Note: You can skip this step and go directly to the egg step instead.) Dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently sauté until they are golden brown.

Yield: 4 main dish servings

Any chance we can get the "vomit" emoji enabled on the fly-out reaction button at the lower right of each post, just until we get clear of cicada season? Asking for a friend.

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3 hours ago, WeatherShak said:


The app is pretty handy. Should be fun to track was they start to emerge.

The leaderboard cracks me up. So gonna play.

3 hours ago, Stormfly said:

It's pretty amazing they take 17 years when you think about it.  Most dogs don't live that long!

My asshole dog will live twice as long. Hopefully. ;)

2 hours ago, Kmlwx said:

Predator satiation theory as well. Fascinating - albeit kind of creepy looking creatures. 

Fascinating for sure. Lucky to see this a third time imo.

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And now my Dad (born in 1949) is playing the game. Got his new plates today after ‘threatening’ to steal mine. This wx and all things related hobby is silly. Think we all have a defective gene...

CB3942C0-51B9-4E55-A028-4A59650C1722.jpeg

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9 minutes ago, FXW176 said:

And now my Dad (born in 1949) is playing the game. Got his new plates today after ‘threatening’ to steal mine. This wx and all things related hobby is silly. Think we all have a defective gene...

CB3942C0-51B9-4E55-A028-4A59650C1722.jpeg

I think that Pfizer shot messed with your head. Microchip made by cicadas

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4 minutes ago, H2O said:

I think that Pfizer shot messed with your head. Microchip made by cicadas

Wait ‘till I start (hopefully) posting butterfly pics in the garden thread. Not happy with last year, like most of us. Game. On.

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I love cicadas...maybe more than snow and weather.   I've been waiting since 2004 for them to come back.  Because if Covid we had to postpone our trip last summer to the Galapagos until this spring.  My husband wanted to push it off as long as possible and not go until May or June but I needed to be back in time for the emergence so we leave in 10 days.  Back May 2 so we shouldn't miss any!  He thinks I'm nuts for choosing cicadas over Galapagos...lol

 Dug one up while weeding a couple of weeks ago and saw some holes while mulching today but no exoskeletons on the trees.  They either went back in or were gobbled up.

I live in a wooded older neighborhood.  It was loud when some emerged early 3 years ago.  I can't imagine what this year will be like.

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2 hours ago, WeatherShak said:

Hearing cicadas throughout the neighborhood tonight for the first time. Loud. Sporadic. But there for a few square miles in my neighborhood.

Thought we heard them a few times -- lightly -- circling/walking the Coast Guard's C5I compound off of Telegraph Road midday today. I suspect we won't have any doubt about hearing them in several more weeks.  :) 

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9 hours ago, WeatherShak said:

Hearing cicadas throughout the neighborhood tonight for the first time. Loud. Sporadic. But there for a few square miles in my neighborhood.

 

7 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

Thought we heard them a few times -- lightly -- circling/walking the Coast Guard's C5I compound off of Telegraph Road midday today. I suspect we won't have any doubt about hearing them in several more weeks.  :) 

Sure they aren't peepers? They're definitely still doing their peeping thing in my neck of the woods right now.

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