Chocolate Covered Ants

From: Sonatina

On Sep 26, 2009

From: gailanng

On Sep 11, 2009

Never shall I forget sitting on the back porch of my childhood home eating ice cream when all of a sudden one lick appeared grainy and sour. There it was...an ice cream covered ant. How that ant came to find its way atop my ice cream may be one of life's mysteries. Aside from a singular ant's travels to my ice cream, over the years I've contemplated the consumption of ants. Ice cream didn't seem to disguise its sour taste. Maybe this is a characteristic of an ant's internal chemistry or maybe it's just a regional thing. I'd say this is still an excellent recipe for an any ant species. If you should have an inclination for the 'sour' type, I'd be glad to box them up and send them to you for I have plenty to spare. Now that I'm thinking about recipe possibilities, perhaps the key would be to use the chocolate-covered ants as 'sprinkles' with some nifty variations--White Chocolate Surprise, Farm-Raised Sweet and Chocolately and the old-time fav, Sweet and Sour.

From: Stella Mae

On Apr 5, 2005

I must say it was not difficult finding Kosher ants as I recognized them at a picnic following a friend's son's bar mitz-vah because they were the ones wearing the teensy yarmulkes. It wasn't hard to capture them — I just played a song on my fiddle from Fiddler on the Roof and they followed the music right into a jar placed at a strategic spot under a tree. The hardest part was getting the ants to quit dancing those Israeli folk dances long enough to be dipped — prying all those locked legs apart with tweezers was not a fun chore — but once they sat down to rest before the next round, I was able to offer them a strong drink that put them into a most relaxed and willing mood. In fact, I don't think they even noticed being dipped. It's not necessary to disembowel the little characters. I mean, how much poop can there be in an ant? Actually, I found that the entrails lent body to the ants, and the soused, choccie covered insects were a big hit at my cocktail party. This is a delicious recipe, and the only drawback is that I now have a gazillion yamulkes that I need to put on Ebay.

From: Ann Marie F

On Jun 18, 2003

Mirg, thank you for posting this wonderful recipe. Combining the carnivore course with the desert course saves time time. That's EATING time, not preperation time. But the delicious chocolaty crunch makes the prep time worthwhile. Be sure to count the ants carefully to maintain the correct ant/chocolate balance. I followed your advice and left the entrails in. Not only did it save time, it enriched the dish and made it more healthful with the added protein. I did add a teaspoon of vanilla and a half cup of outrageously expensive rasberry liqueur which I think added depth of flavor. Next time I think I'll try Godiva dark chocolate liqueur with a dash of cinnamon. I'm also considering adapting this recipe to take advantage of Minnesota's abundance of our natural resource of mosquitoes, our state bird. They're big enough to mate with helicopters, so the prep time should be shorter as not as many will be needed. Hunting Minnesota's mosquitoes can be dangerous as they are quite aggresive, which makes them highly expensive. I haven't found an economical source for culinary mosquitoes. But the expense would be worthwhile for such an exceptional treat. When I make this recipe with mosquitoes, I think I'll add a quart of vodka to the recipe.