They are collected only at certain times of year (from their hatching in early May through the late summer/early autumn). They are toasted on a comal. Often they are seasoned with garlic, lime juice, chilies and/or salt.
One of the regions of Mexico where chapulines are most widely consumed is Oaxaca, where they are sold as snacks at local sports events and are becoming revived among foodies.[1] There is one reference to grasshoppers that are eaten in early records of the Spanish conquest, in early to mid-16th century.[2]
Besides Oaxaca, chapulines are popular in areas surrounding Mexico City, such as Tepoztlán, Cuernavaca and Puebla. They may be eaten individually as a botana (snack) or as a filling, e.g. tlayuda filled with chapulines. The Seattle Mariners successfully introduced chapulines as a novelty snack in their 2017 home games.[3]
Health risks
A fried chapulínFried egg with Oaxacan chorizo and chapulines
In 2007, several American media reported concerns over lead contamination in products imported from Zimatlán, a municipality in Oaxaca, including chapulines.[4]
Edible insects are also known to affect people who have crustacean/shellfish allergies due to similar biochemistry because insects and crustaceans are related to each other, both being Tetraconata.[5]
Taco made from nopal tortilla, fried beans and chapulines
Contaminated chapulines which were found for sale in California were also identified in samples from Zimatlán.[6]
See also
Entomophagy – Practice of eating insects by organisms
Chapulín de la milpa – Species of grasshopperPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets (Sphenarium purpurascens), a grasshopper species found in Mexico and Guatemala
^"Chapulines and Food Choices in Rural Oaxaca". Jeffrey H. Cohen, Nydia Delhi Mata Sanchez, and Francisco Montiel-Ishino. Gastronomica. Vol (90)1: 61-65, 2009.
^Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, General History of the Things of New Spain: Florentine Codex, Book 11 Earthly Things
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