Cicada ice cream proves to be a hit at this NJ shop

A lot has been written about how the cicadas of Brood X are edible and make a great high protein snack. A New Jersey ice cream shop took things one step further and developed a cicada chocolate chip ice cream.

The Bent Spoon in Princeton decided to make the special flavor due to the parallels between the insects’ emergence and their shop; Gabriella Carbone, the owner, told Patch.com, "This is extra special for us because the 'Brood X' last emerged in 2004, the year we opened our store in Princeton. We wanted to do something special this year, so it was so nice to have the opportunity."

Now if you’re imagining ice cream with whole cicadas looking back at you, you’ll be disappointed. What they did was collect the cicadas, blanch them, cook them, and dehydrate them before grinding them into a protein powder which they mixed with the chocolate to make the chips.

To say it was popular is an understatement; Carbone told Patch.com that the first five gallon batch sold out in under an hour. They held some in reserve for the next day and when they opened, that sold out in 15 minutes.

Even though Princeton is one of the areas that has been overrun with the bugs, gathering the cicadas needed for the “shock flavor” wasn’t easy, though. Only cicadas that have shed their exoskeleton are edible and they can’t have been sprayed with insecticide.

The Whole Earth Center put them in touch with a local landowner who helped them harvest enough of the cicadas to make their first batch.

Carbone says they will make more of the special recipe ice cream if they can find another landowner with untreated land for the harvest.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.