COLUMBIA, MO — Those looking to taste the seasonal flavor of cicada ice cream at Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream will no longer have an opportunity to do so.
Sparky's approached the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services and asked about the use of cicadas in the ice cream, Gerry Worley, environmental health manager for the department, said.
"The food code doesn't directly address cicadas," Worley said. "We advised against it."
Sparky's introduced the cicada ice cream last week and met with such surprising demand that it sold out the day before it was set to debut. The store was going to make another batch for the weekend, but a sign on the door told customers it would not be back until 2024.
When making the first half batch of ice cream, the cicadas were boiled and fully cooked through, Sparky's manager Ashley Nagel said. Food code does not address how cicadas should be cooked.
"The food code tells us how high the temperature should be," Worley said of normally cooked foods such as fish, chicken and beef. The department does not have that information for cicadas.
I would skip it without even being told to by the Health Dept.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure cats would like this.
ReplyDeletei wonder how many ww points a boiled cicada has?
ReplyDeletexxalainaxx
LOL @ Alaina!
ReplyDeleteWell I can sure wait awhile before I try it. Ain't eating no BUG ice cream. Although my kids used to bug me for it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post...... Wierd, but interesting.
jack & Sherry back home in the back yard.
I once ate fried grasshoppers. Don't know if cicadas would be to my liking. Ingenious way to deal with their overabundance, though. LOVE that the ice cream won't be back until 2024. This made me smile.
ReplyDeleteI am a great, great fan of ice cream. But I'm afraid I would have to pass on this one. Nothing personal against cicadas, mind you. I've just never had the urge to eat a bug.
ReplyDelete