Grasshoper Nuggets

For urban communities, food made from insects often considered extreme. But in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta Special Region, insects like grasshoppers that live in the trees of the forest has become a snack as well as a side dish everyday locals.
Grasshoppers that live attached to stems or leaves are always available throughout the season. In fact, in the rainy season people still find the grasshopper. Usually fried grasshoppers and added sweetness, spicy or just simply flavored garlic and salt.

In addition to having adequate protein, savory flavors make this snack grasshoppers hunted by tourists who come to Gunungkidul. To increase the sale value of the product locusts, one of the students of the Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering UGM 2010, Ridho Andika Putra trying to cultivate locust wood or in Latin Valanga nigricornis into nuggets.

"People or consumers will be more interested in eating food from locust wood that has been processed into nuggets for processed wood locusts had only fried with a rough texture," he said when met at the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Friday, April 12 2013.
Ridho said, nuggets homemade grasshopper is a diversified development of local food that is not dependent import. Even this refined products is expected to help the adequacy of protein intake in the community.

"As a source of protein-rich foods, is expected to help the grasshopper nuggets of nutrition for the poor because of its affordability," he said.

According Ridho, grasshoppers nugget making process is not too complicated. First, locusts cleaned and steamed half-baked. Once steamed, grasshoppers coarsely ground and mixed with spices that have been mashed. Spices consist of garlic, pepper salt, flavoring, corn starch, water, and eggs.

Milled locust that has been mixed with spices then printed in a baking dish and steamed for 15 minutes. After the dough drained and cut into squares. Then the pieces of dough coated with egg white and flour panir.
"Once it's fried grasshoppers and become products nugget," he said.

Motivation Ridho Andika make products locusts nugget that gets funding from the Higher Education for Student Creativity Program (PKM) in 2013 is to meet the adequacy of protein for the poor.

"Increased protein intake should be encouraged and to be able to meet the protein intake of the poor through diversification one of them with a high protein food," he said