BERLIN (AP) – A German ice cream parlour has expanded its menu with a skin-crawling offering: cricket-flavoured scoops with dried brown crickets on top.
The unusual confection is available at Thomas Micolino’s store in southern Germany’s town of Rottenburg am Neckar, German news agency dpa reported on Thursday.
Micolino has a habit of creating flavours that are far outside Germans’ typical preferences for strawberry, chocolate, banana and vanilla ice cream.
In the past, he’s offered liver sausage and Gorgonzola cheese ice cream as well gold-plated ice cream for EUR4 (USD4.25) per scoop.
“I am a very curious person and want to try everything,” Micolino told dpa. “I’ve eaten a lot of things, including a lot of strange things, and crickets were something I still wanted to try, also in the form of ice cream.”
That he can now produce the cricket flavour is due to a European Union (EU) regulation that allows the use of the insects in food.
Under the regulation, crickets may be frozen, dried or used as a powder. The EU already allowed migratory locusts and flour beetle larvae as a food additive, dpa reported.
Micolino’s ice cream is made of cricket flour, heavy cream, vanilla extract and, honey, and he tops it with dried whole crickets. It has a “surprising yummy taste” – or at least that’s what he wrote on Instagram.
The creative vendor said that while some people are disgusted and even upset that he is offering insect ice cream, curious customers have mostly liked the new flavour.
“Those who try it are very enthusiastic,” Micolino said. “I have customers who come here every day and buy a scoop.”
One of his customers, Konstantin Dick, gave the cricket-infused flavour a positive review, telling dpa, “Yes, it’s really very tasty and edible.”
Another customer, Johann Peter Schwarze, also praised the ice cream’s creamy consistency, but added that “you can still sense the cricket in the ice cream”.
