The news report with the latest about “murder hornets” interrupted my morning stroll through the news. I grew clammy. I might have quivered.
“They are sometimes eaten as snacks,” it said, “or used as an ingredient in alcoholic drinks.”
Perhaps you’re quivering now. Sorry.
The hornets have hatched countless hypey headlines since first found late last year in British Columbia and later in Washington state. At 2 inches, the invasive insects are the world’s biggest hornets. They kill honeybees and, according to news reports, a few dozen people each year in Japan.
I’d reacted with nothing more than curiosity – until reading that people dine on the bugs, also called Asian giant hornets.
The 30-Second Read research department investigated, finding that residents of rural central Japan:
• Preserve murder hornet grubs in jars and panfry or steam them with rice.
• Fry adult hornets on skewers (with stingers!) until crunchy. “They leave a warming, tingling sensation when eaten,” said one report.
• Drown hornets in distilled liquor, prompting them to release venom, for a beverage with “an extra kick.”
Well.
OK.
Then.
…
No!!!
