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Cicada Banana Bread Recipe

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This recipe for Cicada Banana Bread is from Elizabeth and Collier's Wedding Cookbook, one of the cookbooks created at FamilyCookbookProject.com. We'll help you start your own personal cookbook! It's easy and fun. Click here to start your own cookbook!
Category:
Category:
Ingredients:  
Ingredients:  
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry-roasted cicadas
1/4 cup chopped nuts
Directions:
Directions:
For bread: mix together all ingredients. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350º for about 1 hour or until the bread tests done.

For cicadas:

Newly hatched cicadas make the best eating because their shells have not yet hardened. Mature females are the next best thing. Adult males have fairly hollow abdomens, while the females are fat-filled. (Males have a rounded back end females have pointed back ends.) Collect then in a paper or plastic bag early in the morning, just after they've emerged but before they've climbed out of reach.

Blanch in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. This solidifies their innards and gets rid of soil bacteria. Cook with them immediately or freeze them. Remove all hard parts (wings and legs) before using.

To dry-roast, place cicadas on a cookie sheet and roast for 10-15 minutes at 225 degrees. They should have a soft dry consistency, a bit like a nut. Roast longer, if still moist inside. When dry, grind coarsely and use as a nut substitute in baking or as in ice cream topping.
Personal Notes:
Personal Notes:
Periodical cicadas appear in 17 year cycles. The insects are high in protein and have a faintly nutty flavor. Maryland's last big hatch was Brood X in 2004, when Collier did the collecting, preparing, and baking...payback for the horrible noise and mess they made. You'll have to save this recipe until the next major hatch in 2021!

 

 

 

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