- Mealworms could be a healthy, high-protein, sustainable addition to dishes, according to a new report.
- I tried cooking my own mealworms, roasting them with sweet and savory seasoning for 10 minutes.
Cooking mealworms could be a healthy, sustainable, and high-protein "meat-like" flavoring for dishes, according to a new report.
The research, presented at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society on August 24, suggests that eating insects is the future, given the increasing environmental and financial costs of animal protein.
"Insects are a nutritious and healthy food source with high amounts of fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and high-quality protein, which is like that of meat," In Hee Cho, Ph.D., the lead researcher from Wonkwang University in South Korea, said in a press release.
As someone interested in both my own health and that of the planet, when my editor asked if I would try cooking and eating mealworms like the researchers did, I figured I couldn't say no.
It's safe to say I wasn't exactly salivating at the prospect of eating the little bugs, but I was pleasantly surprised by the taste.
I roasted the mealworms for 10 minutes
Mealworms for birds aren't hard to come by, but there are fewer available designed for human consumption. Here in the UK, Eat Grub is one of the more established brands, and the company sells plain mealworms as "ready to cook insects." One 20 gram packet costs £5.49 ($6.50).
When I opened the packet and had a sniff, it smelled mostly like mushrooms, with seedy, oaty, and nutty notes too.
The researchers didn't offer a huge amount of information on how best to cook the mealworms, aside from heating them with sugar.
The Eat Grub packet suggested roasting the mealworms with garlic for 10 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit), so for one packet I did that, along with some cooking spray, black pepper, and truffle salt (because I figured everything tastes delicious with truffle salt).
On a separate baking tray, I poured another 20 gram pack of mealworms and added a generous sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon.
They tasted better than expected
Looking at the mealworms, I couldn't stop thinking about them wriggling and crawling, and it was not enticing. But I popped them into the oven for 10 minutes and waited.
While cooking, it really smelled of mushrooms, and then it was time to taste.
Surprisingly, they were perfectly pleasant. The mealworms themselves don't have a strong flavor, and I think they could have done with even more seasoning, perhaps smoked paprika.
The sweet ones were crunchier and had come together in clusters, almost like granola, which I liked.
If you can get over the fact that they're mealworms, they're quite nice. But, as the researchers noted, they do suffer from an image problem. Best to eat with your eyes closed, or perhaps mixed into other dishes.
You'd need to eat five packets to match the protein in a chicken breast
Each packet of mealworms is only 100 calories and nine grams of protein, which is great for people keeping an eye on their diet.
Eat Grub suggests sprinkling the mealworms on top of salads, so I compared them to the nutrition in my usual garlic and herb salad topper seed mix and found the mealworms were pretty much the same calorie-wise, but a fair bit higher in protein and lower in carbs.
That said, you would have to eat four to five packets of mealworms to get the same amount of protein as, say, a chicken breast.
There's no denying that mealworms are a nutritious and sustainable food choice, but I'm not sure I'll be serving them up at my next dinner party just yet.