Frank's RedHot to Release Cicada Cookbook With 13 Different Recipes

Brood X is starting to emerge, and before long, trillions of cicadas will be buzzing along in the [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

Brood X is starting to emerge, and before long, trillions of cicadas will be buzzing along in the eastern United States. One of the "Great Broods," Brood X emerges once every 17 years, causing quite the buzz during summer nights and, as it turns out, they're equally nutritious. Commonly consumed in countries from Mexico to Thailand, the United States will soon have an abundance of the insects so naturally, Frank's RedHot concocted a cookbook for you to use if you're looking to get into the delicacy.

After Memorial Day weekend wraps up, the Frank's team will release a digital cookbook with 13 recipes from Air-Fried Buffalo Cicada "Wings," to Buffalo Bug Dip and a Spicy Cicada Mary — the hot sauce company's twist on the classic Bloody Mary cocktail. The digital cookbook will be available sometime next week on FranksRedHot.com and in total, will include 13 separate recipes featuring cicadas as the primary ingredient.

Cicadas Key Images Recipe 2
(Photo: Frank's RedHot)

For the first time in 17 years, cicadas belonging to Brood X began to emerge earlier this month and they're expected to mate, then will begin to die off towards the end of June. Some members of the brood will burrow underground and into the roots of trees to reemerge another 17 years from now.

"Individually they are not as loud as some of our summer cicadas. But the difference is there are an awful lot of these," cicada expert John Cooley previously told Michigan's WZZM. "Brood X is spread into a couple of major different areas. You start to push up into Michigan and not only do you have the problem of patchy trees, but you're also up at the northern edge of the general periodic cicada distribution."

He added, "This lineage of these cicadas is about 5 million years old. They have been living in eastern forests for that length of time. They are a natural part of the ecosystem. So if you were to remove something like that from the ecosystem you don't even know what effects there would be. But there would undoubtedly be impacts."

Researchers are asking for people to report Brood X citings on a new Cicada Safari app on iOS. You can download that app here.

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