Chapulines On The Menu!!

Wow. What a great way to start the month.

Today I dropped off a half-pound of the tiny chapulines at TWO popular restaurants here in Providence. I won't say which ones just yet, other than one of them is a Mexican place and one serves hipsters and artist-types. In a little while I'll ask them if I can include their names in this blog; what matters for the moment is that these adventurous people had taken samples from me and decided that it was time to play with a new ingredient.

In fact I'd made one or two previous small-scale sales before these, from that larger order I'd picked up last month. I know that there are other restaurants out there also willing to take the plunge, and I'll be selling frozen/chilled insects at a few of my up-coming events.

Thus the whole thing grows....

Summer of New Bugs: The Chapulines

Chapulines are the name for "Grasshoppers" in Mexico, where they are a pretty popular kind of food -- the most popular insect food, though there are several other insects consumed there as well. This part of the story of my business starts with Chapulines because they came first chronologically. I've got two varieties now; the larger ones are from the state of Morelos, and I got them last October. Unfortunately the source is pretty much non-renewable, though I have some hope that I can get more of them. They're dry and crunchy and really good.

The second kind I got more recently; the first batch was almost a month ago. They're from Oaxaca -- the next state over from Morelos and the part where chapulines are best-known and most popular throughout Mexico. I'd learned that YES, there is legal importation of Mexican grasshoppers from Mexico -- they're exported to just a few places, including a town about 40 minutes from where I grew up. So I called up the store, and on my way to visit Mom I dropped by to pick up their last pound of 'hoppers, which they had put aside for me.

A variety of grasshoppers are collected and sold in Oaxaca, and in fact these insects seem to be culturally notable (there's a saying that goes something like, "Those who taste the Chapulines will always return to Oaxaca") but they seem to be known for the little tiny ones not much bigger than rice grains, which is what the market in NY sells:

In the basket or plate, these little ones have the appearence of shredded dried beef (though, granted, when you examine them up close, they look rather insect-like). In the mouth they're somehow both meaty and crunchy. They're sold cold and damp, whereas the larger ones are as dry as crackers. They're also considerably spicier than the larger ones. I have plans to buy a good deal more of the second variety, since I hope to have customers. In fact I've introduced this very tasty food to two restaurants in Providence (they haven't quite committed yet, but the proprietors are quite intrigued, so... fingers crossed!)