Snack Time!

*Note / “Mealworms” and “superworms” aren’t really worms, they’re beetles. They both are species of the “darkling beetle”. The “superworm” or “zophobas” are common names for the beetles when they are at their larval stage. Likewise, “mealworms” are the larval form of the “mealworm beetle”. They go through complete metamorphosis from egg > larva > pupa > adult beetle. Just wanted to clarify cause I wasn’t too sure myself!

So it was me and Kristin’s week for class snack time. I made a variation of this oatmeal breakfast bars recipe that I got from vegweb.com. I made the exact same bars a couple weeks ago for my writing class, but this time I used cranberries instead of raisins and added superworm flour, which turned out pretty good.
Superworm or mealworm flour is basically baked crunchy worms that are then ground up into a fine protein rich powder, much like the consistency of flour or flax seed, depending on how fine you like it. They smell really good fresh out of the oven and have a nice nutty flavor. Scroll down to the end of this post to learn how to prepare worms for cooking and how to make mealworm flour!
Here are just a few of the happy eaters: Caroline and Gustavo. More than half the bars were gone by the end of class!
How to prepare worms for cooking:
1) Place live worms in strainer and wash in cold water
2) Pat them dry with a towel (or a hanky!) to get rid of any moisture
3) Place the worms into a plastic ziplock bag or container
4) Put the bag or container in the freezer for 15 minutes
5) Take out of the freezer and they’re ready to cook

How to make protein rich mealworm flour:
1) Preheat the oven to 200º F
2) Lightly spray a baking pan with oil or butter
3) Take the frozen worms and sprinkle them onto the pan
4) Bake in oven for approximately 1-3 hours (This depends on how many you are baking. You may want to consistently check. The insects should be fairly brittle and crush easily when they are done.)
5) Remove from oven
6) Crush worms to consistency of flax seed or as fine as you like using a mortar and pestle, food processor, a fork, etc.
7) Now you are ready to use them in your cooking!