Oaktown Crickets (and fried crickets in general)
Over the years our team has found that freshly fried crickets are one of the most delicious and satisfying ways to prepare and serve this product.
The preparation is very simple: start with frozen fresh crickets, either remove the legs or leave them in place, blanch or rinse them to remove any dust from harvesting, deep fry until crispy, and dust with desired seasoning. It is hard to find a more delicious cricket than one hot and fresh from the frier, sprinkled with salt and consumed immediately.
It is easy to incorporate fried crickets into lots of dishes. You can think of them like sunflower seeds or pepitas. They provided a crunchy savory bite to salads, tacos, nachos, wraps, pizza, or any other dish in need of a topping. They are also excellent a la carte eaten like popcorn!
In 2018, we had a unique opportunity to share our crickets with the public at the Oakland Coliseum, home of the Oakland A's baseball team and Oakland Raiders (sic) football team. While our core business was focused on developing farming methods and processing cricket protein powder for wholesale, we decided to launch a spin-off brand to supply the Coliseum, and birthed Oaktown Crickets!
The preparation is very simple: start with frozen fresh crickets, either remove the legs or leave them in place, blanch or rinse them to remove any dust from harvesting, deep fry until crispy, and dust with desired seasoning. It is hard to find a more delicious cricket than one hot and fresh from the frier, sprinkled with salt and consumed immediately.
It is easy to incorporate fried crickets into lots of dishes. You can think of them like sunflower seeds or pepitas. They provided a crunchy savory bite to salads, tacos, nachos, wraps, pizza, or any other dish in need of a topping. They are also excellent a la carte eaten like popcorn!
In 2018, we had a unique opportunity to share our crickets with the public at the Oakland Coliseum, home of the Oakland A's baseball team and Oakland Raiders (sic) football team. While our core business was focused on developing farming methods and processing cricket protein powder for wholesale, we decided to launch a spin-off brand to supply the Coliseum, and birthed Oaktown Crickets!
We launched two flavors - Zesty Lime (our take on the classic chili lime), and Sweet 5-Spice (using warming spices and a pinch of sugar to capitalize on the amazing sweet and savory dynamic).
The product had great reception, and although we created the product and brand specifically for distribution at the Oakland Coliseum, local retailers soon came knocking, expanding distribution to local breweries and even 7-Eleven.
Although Oaktown Crickets was the only fried cricket snack we saw on the market at the time, many companies produce similar roasted cricket snacks such as Don Bugito, Exo, Cowboy Crickets, and Ento Market. There are certainly great niche market opportunities for fried and roasted whole cricket snack products. We see particularly strong potential in event and experience oriented settings (like a sports arena), where customers can discover the product and enjoy it in a group setting tied to the event at hand. We also see value in place-based branding such as we developed for Oaktown Crickets (locally grown and produced in-and-around Oakland). For those of you who do not live in the SF Bay Area, the logo is derived from the iconic silhouette of the freight cranes at the Port of Oakland, with the Bay Bridge and Oakland skyline represented below. This created a personal connection with the brand, particularly in the charged atmosphere of the sports arena where attendees were primed and ready to support the home team. Interestingly, we found that the Zesty Lime (green) flavor sold about 4:1 to the 5-Spice (orange), quite possibly because the green matched the A's colors, while the orange fit the cross-Bay rival SF Giants. This was a dynamic we were able to use in direct marketing during A's v. Giants games:
Although Oaktown Crickets was the only fried cricket snack we saw on the market at the time, many companies produce similar roasted cricket snacks such as Don Bugito, Exo, Cowboy Crickets, and Ento Market. There are certainly great niche market opportunities for fried and roasted whole cricket snack products. We see particularly strong potential in event and experience oriented settings (like a sports arena), where customers can discover the product and enjoy it in a group setting tied to the event at hand. We also see value in place-based branding such as we developed for Oaktown Crickets (locally grown and produced in-and-around Oakland). For those of you who do not live in the SF Bay Area, the logo is derived from the iconic silhouette of the freight cranes at the Port of Oakland, with the Bay Bridge and Oakland skyline represented below. This created a personal connection with the brand, particularly in the charged atmosphere of the sports arena where attendees were primed and ready to support the home team. Interestingly, we found that the Zesty Lime (green) flavor sold about 4:1 to the 5-Spice (orange), quite possibly because the green matched the A's colors, while the orange fit the cross-Bay rival SF Giants. This was a dynamic we were able to use in direct marketing during A's v. Giants games:
Besides a stand-alone packaged product, fried cricket shine as an addition to all sorts of dishes. In fact, when we initially pitched fried crickets to the A's executive chef, we presented them served on salad, pizza, nachos, noodles, and even in a Bloody Mary (btw, also a winner at bachelor parties - they stay crispy while floating on the savory boozy goodness below). We have also served them as a topper to guacamole, as part of Burmese Tea Leaf Salad, in pupusas, and in omelettes.
How to:
The first question for serving whole crickets is: "Legs, or no legs?"
While fun for some, the short answer is: "No legs."
Luckily, they are easy to remove. Starting with a bag full of frozen crickets, mush it around between your hands (maybe wear gloves, it's cold!) rubbing the frozen crickets against each other and dislodging the legs and antennae. Then, using a slotted sifter such as the basket from a salad spinner, sift the loose legs and antennae from the bodies. You should do this over a large bowl or other catchment to collect the legs, which are still a great source of protein and can be dried and incorporated into cricket powder production. The de-legged crickets can then be washed or blanched ahead of frying or roasting (always blanch crickets ahead of roasting to preserve the light color - without blanching, the slow heat of roasting allows enzymatic reactions in the cricket to turn them black. They are safe and taste fine, but are much less appetizing!).
Crickets should be fried in a high smoke-point oil (e.g. canola, high-oleic safflower, sunflower, or avocado) at 340 degrees F until the oil returns to its original temperature (a small table-top fryer will take ~8 minutes to cook 4 Cups of frozen crickets). Once cooked, the crickets should drain in the fryer basket for a couple minutes to remove excess oil, and then be immediately tossed with seasoning in a large mixing bowl. Once cooled, they can be stored in a vacuum sealed bag or other air-tight enclosure under refrigeration until they are packed. The frying process produces a low-moisture product that does not require refrigeration to ensure food safety, however our in-house shelf-life testing found that refrigeration slows oxidation of the oils (development of rancidity), and preserves a better flavor profile.
We packed the crickets in foil + mylar bags, and did shelf-life studies with different oils and atmospheric modifications (trying desiccants, oxygen absorbers, and a combination of both). Interestingly, we found that the product maintained better quality without atmospheric modifications. We also found that crickets fried in sunflower oil held up better than when using canola oil (lower rancidity after 3 months on the shelf). Microbial analysis found that the product is still safe to consume after 6 and 12 months, but flavors tended to start turning "off" around 3 months (when using canola oil).
The recipes below are measured out for making a small batch. Our original recipes are calculated as percentages of weight, and you can calculate the weight ratios below to scale up the recipes.
While fun for some, the short answer is: "No legs."
Luckily, they are easy to remove. Starting with a bag full of frozen crickets, mush it around between your hands (maybe wear gloves, it's cold!) rubbing the frozen crickets against each other and dislodging the legs and antennae. Then, using a slotted sifter such as the basket from a salad spinner, sift the loose legs and antennae from the bodies. You should do this over a large bowl or other catchment to collect the legs, which are still a great source of protein and can be dried and incorporated into cricket powder production. The de-legged crickets can then be washed or blanched ahead of frying or roasting (always blanch crickets ahead of roasting to preserve the light color - without blanching, the slow heat of roasting allows enzymatic reactions in the cricket to turn them black. They are safe and taste fine, but are much less appetizing!).
Crickets should be fried in a high smoke-point oil (e.g. canola, high-oleic safflower, sunflower, or avocado) at 340 degrees F until the oil returns to its original temperature (a small table-top fryer will take ~8 minutes to cook 4 Cups of frozen crickets). Once cooked, the crickets should drain in the fryer basket for a couple minutes to remove excess oil, and then be immediately tossed with seasoning in a large mixing bowl. Once cooled, they can be stored in a vacuum sealed bag or other air-tight enclosure under refrigeration until they are packed. The frying process produces a low-moisture product that does not require refrigeration to ensure food safety, however our in-house shelf-life testing found that refrigeration slows oxidation of the oils (development of rancidity), and preserves a better flavor profile.
We packed the crickets in foil + mylar bags, and did shelf-life studies with different oils and atmospheric modifications (trying desiccants, oxygen absorbers, and a combination of both). Interestingly, we found that the product maintained better quality without atmospheric modifications. We also found that crickets fried in sunflower oil held up better than when using canola oil (lower rancidity after 3 months on the shelf). Microbial analysis found that the product is still safe to consume after 6 and 12 months, but flavors tended to start turning "off" around 3 months (when using canola oil).
The recipes below are measured out for making a small batch. Our original recipes are calculated as percentages of weight, and you can calculate the weight ratios below to scale up the recipes.
Seasoning:
Zesty Lime: |
The original Zesty Lime seasoning was none other than off-the-shelf Tajin chili-lime seasoning! This a great option for the home cook - fry your crickets and then toss with just enough Tajin to taste.
For a packaged product that had to sit on the shelf for an indeterminate amount of time, we found that bumping the intensity of the chili and lime flavors helped keep the product tasting fresh and bright. For this we used the original Tajin seasoning augmented with some extra lime powder and chili powder, balanced with a little sea salt.
Recipe:
Season 10oz (~4 cups) of freshly fried crickets with:
12g Tajin
2g ground cayenne pepper or chili powder
3g sea salt
3g organic lime powder
For a packaged product that had to sit on the shelf for an indeterminate amount of time, we found that bumping the intensity of the chili and lime flavors helped keep the product tasting fresh and bright. For this we used the original Tajin seasoning augmented with some extra lime powder and chili powder, balanced with a little sea salt.
Recipe:
Season 10oz (~4 cups) of freshly fried crickets with:
12g Tajin
2g ground cayenne pepper or chili powder
3g sea salt
3g organic lime powder
Sweet 5-Spice:
For the 5-Spice flavor, we used a pre-mixed ground 5-Spice blend with sea salt and cane sugar. Perhaps because of the intensity of the spices, we found this flavor held up better on the shelf than the Zesty Lime, though in market we pegged the Best-By dates of both flavors to that of the Zesty Lime.
This recipe can also be simplified to just use cinnamon, sugar and salt, or boosted with a little chili or cayenne for some extra heat.
Recipe:
Season 10oz (~4 cups) of freshly fried crickets with:
13g ground 5-Spice
38g castor sugar
5g sea salt
This recipe can also be simplified to just use cinnamon, sugar and salt, or boosted with a little chili or cayenne for some extra heat.
Recipe:
Season 10oz (~4 cups) of freshly fried crickets with:
13g ground 5-Spice
38g castor sugar
5g sea salt