Missouri Cicada Ice Cream Vendor Told To Cool It

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A public health official in central Missouri has asked an ice cream shop to cool it with the cicada ice cream, even though customers apparently can't get enough of it.

Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream in Columbia, Mo., sold out of its only batch of the insect-filled dessert within hours of its June 1 debut.

The Columbia-Missourian says employees collected the cicadas in their backyards and removed most of the dead bugs' wings. They then boiled the bugs and covered them in brown sugar and milk chocolate. The base ice cream is brown sugar and butter flavor.

Gerry Worley, an environmental health chief with the Columbia County Department of Public Health, says the agency's food code "doesn't directly address cicadas" and that he has advised against their use as an ingredient.

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Cicada Ice Cream

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Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream in Columbia, MO is serving a cicada ice cream treat. The insects coated in brown sugar and chocolate and are mixed in a brown sugar and butter based ice cream.

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Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream in Columbia, MO is serving a cicada ice cream treat. The insects coated in brown sugar and chocolate and are mixed in a brown sugar and butter based ice cream.

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Comments

[Gronkie]

12:36 PM on 06/10/2011

I own an ice cream company and we make our own, and I say....nope, not under our banner!

[YoureSoShain]

11:52 AM on 06/10/2011

Considering the unsustainable livestock farming practices, it's probably a good idea for Americans to start phasing insects into their diet. Other countries around the world do it. I've had bugs many times, they're pretty good if the chef/cook knows what he's doing.

[Hypnos Rises]

08:00 PM on 06/09/2011

You should try palmetto bug and zombie ant icecream! Awesome...not as good as hissing cockroach filled icream however, the chunks give it character!

[msstrick40]

12:51 AM on 06/09/2011

Folks will eat anything. Just say it's a delicacy...and they'll eat it up.

[freddsky]

04:34 PM on 06/08/2011

Is there some reason PETA hasn't weighed in on the side of the animals? Is this ice cream organic? Were any of the cicadas genetically modified? As usual the story misses all the important points.

[fdeltz]

04:01 PM on 06/08/2011

If true, just more nanny state BS.

BTW the story helped me remember being in Macy's in NYC with my grandmother, 45 years ago looking at chocolate covered bugs sold as a treat novelty.

[saf64]

03:59 PM on 06/08/2011

If it tastes like peanuts, then just use peanuts! At least you don't have to pull any wings off of peanuts!!

[PalaceOfWisdom]

04:07 PM on 06/08/2011

Actually, shelling the peanuts would be far more work.

[grover5995]

02:23 PM on 06/08/2011

That's one way to get rid of those critters!

[lisaman]

02:06 PM on 06/08/2011

gross.

[Thaag Tidestalker]

12:32 PM on 06/08/2011

Shrimp, crabs, lobsters, etc are bugs. Granted, they are crustaceans, but they are bugs. Look at them!!!

mmmm now I want gumbo....

[Mike Bellman]

11:17 AM on 06/08/2011

My friends and I wanted to get together for the communal gross-out or dare-ya fun.
on.fb.me/cicadaicecream

However a publicity stunt based upon a lie is indeed a lie. Just for shock value. My friends and I got duped. It's like the old addage "If we don't sell 100 cars by Sunday, we'll be forced to kill these puppies!"

The news hit the AP wire and is now funneling through news outlets that the Health Department "shut it down". But, that wasn't the original story. Thursday, 6-2-11 "We've got ice cream", then said that they had "sold out" Thursday morning. Sparky's received another news piece where they described the frenzied customers on Wednesday night (a fabrication apparently, since they didn’t really sell it).

Sparky's went on to say they were preparing another 'batch' for Saturday or Sunday. Which if true means they either (1) hadn't yet contact the health dept. or (2) Indeed contacted the health dept. and were stringing people along for the "gross-out”/interest factor.

The story citing the Health Department's meetup didn't surface until Monday, 6-6-11. While I don't doubt the Health Department's claim, this whole series of events stinks of cover-up. I really don't understand it. Is Sparky's some fixture of the community besides an ice cream store, which commands deference to a series of conflicting stories?

Great job on the publicity, Sparky's, but bullcrap is still bull.

[illustratorblog]

10:20 AM on 06/08/2011

MO Cicada ice cream??? Sound like interesting!

[island101]

07:56 AM on 06/08/2011

Just say it tastes like chicken and people will eat it up!

[cottere5]

05:12 AM on 06/08/2011

Damn! Rocky Road will be the next to go.

[thats what you get]

04:15 AM on 06/08/2011

haha thats kinda funny!! at least someone found a way to make money off a nuisance! btw i got a whole bunch in my back yard if you want me to bring em over:)