Guest contributor Karen Uy shares a recipe for a popular Filipino snack food best enjoyed while indulging in your favorite beer.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. June beetles
• 1 cup vinegar (recommended: sugarcane vinegar)
• 3 heads of garlic
• 1 tsp. whole peppercorn
• ½ cup of soy sauce

Directions

1. Soak beetles in salt water overnight in refrigerator.
2. Drain. Remove and discard head, legs, and carapace, and rinse bodies well.
3. Sautee all ingredients together in a pan until boiling
4. Simmer 1 hour over low heat.
5. Remove from heat and let cool 1 hour before eating.
6. Optional: add an additional deep fry for maximum crunch and easy eating! Garnish with garlic.

June Beetles. Photo Credit: Karen Uy

Each year in Batangas, Philippines, a festival is held to help eradicate a major crop pest.  Guest contributor Karen Uy describes the festival, which centers on a cooking contest with a unique featured ingredient: June beetles (Leucopholis irrorata), or as locals call them, salagubang.  

I was first introduced to this insect as a young city girl living in Manila, Philippines.  At the time, I sincerely believed insects belong crushed to death under flip flops and never in one’s mouth.  So when my mother served beetles sautéed in soy sauce, my first thought was “No Way!”  After a long consideration, I decided to try one as a dare. To my surprise, the dare became an awakening experience as I realized eating the bugs was fun and tasty!  And, as the people of Batangas celebrate, eating June beetles provides a fun way to help manage an important pest.

In the Philippines, the salagubang is considered a serious pest of upland crops such as sugarcane and rice causing over 97 million peso (US $2 million) damage annually.  June beetles grow underground as grubs until they are 16-30 mm long, then emerge after the first rain of the season.  Therefore, entire plants are threatened as larvae feed on roots while adults eat leaves.  June beetles are strongly attracted to light and therefore could be caught using a light trap.  Be sure that what you collect to eat has not been exposed to harmful pesticides.

June beetles are also found in the US, and they are just as edible.  Although the bugs aren’t considered invasive in the US, the idea of eating other insects as a way to control populations may be worth serious consideration.

In fact, insects may represent a preferable protein source compared to meat because they have almost no fat and are packed with protein and other minerals.  For example, 100 grams of June beetles have ~13.4 g protein, 6 mg iron, and 22.6 mg calcium while lean ground beef has 27 g of protein, 3.5 mg iron, and no calcium.  The Batangas Salagubang festival is a reminder of a sustainable future where we can turn a negative into a belly-full of positive.

A table full of June Beetles, ready to be eaten! Photo Credit: Karen Uy

Today’s recipe comes from guest contributor Rachel Hesselink.  As an undergraduate at Calvin College, Rachel studied the competitiveness of  invasive autumn olive in Michigan.  Now a graduate student at the University of Notre Dame, Rachel studies the impacts of global change on salt marsh ecosystems.

Ingredients

• Approximately 3 cups fresh autumn olives (berries)
• 3 Tbsp pectin
• 2.5 cups sugar

Autumn olive jam on the stove, ready to boil!

Yum! Fresh autumn olive jam on bread.

Guest contributor Dr. Christopher Patrick recently enjoyed dinner at Alewife Baltimore where Chef Chad Wells is working to educate people to eat local and eat invasive.  Here, Chris reviews the meal in 3 courses, interspersed with an interview with the Chef himself.

First Course: Wild Boar Meatballs

Chef Chad tells us that feral pigs have invaded the great state of Texas (among many other places).  Invasive boar root up native vegetation and are a general nuisance species.  He has a friend who professionally shoots the boars and ships up the meat.  Chad hopes to visit Texas soon and maybe practice a little invasivore style management himself!

As our server brings out the first plate, I take in the presentation: four meatballs served adjacent to a bed of shaved fennel, daikon sprout, and pickled carrot salad in a ginger mustard sauce.  The meatballs are light, both in texture and flavor.  The meat is savory but not overly so.  My lovely girlfriend Laura remarks that this pork tastes lean, and I have to agree.  The spicy garnish, when paired with the meatballs is reminiscent of spring rolls.  I have visions of trying some wild boar in a meatloaf when I get a chance.  This is a great way to start the meal!

The meal kicks off with wild boar meatballs

Second Course:  Blue Catfish Tacos

Chef Chad buys his blue catfish from fishermen who get it in the Potomac River, so the next course is fresh, locally caught, and cheap!  At $4.00 per pound, you can’t beat this fish for price. Blue catfish are voracious omnivores and do a lot of damage to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, so we’re anxious to do our part to eliminate this pest by diving into the next course. 

Each of the emerging taco towers high with toppings.  Laura and I try to guess all the flavors as we take our first bites.  We detect shoe string crunchy sweet potatoes and a homemade spiracha on the side.  There is also fresh crunchy cabbage coleslaw, chimichurri (we peeked on the menu for that one), blistered corn salsa, and of course, blue catfish.  The catfish has a very mild flavor- not too fishy.  The meat melts in your mouth.  It’s not tough at all, providing the perfect tender fish for a taco dish.

Blue catfish tacos were a spicy treat

Third Course:  Snakehead

Chef Chad tells us that two years ago, this was a hard fish to buy.  Commercial fishermen would only encounter it as by-catch and didn’t know what to do with it.  You’d have to call special to request one, and it was really cheap.  Now the fishermen are starting to target it, and snakehead sells for $12.50 a pound- more expensive than rockfish, a more traditional local delicacy!  Media attention and several local chefs working to promote it have made it locally popular.  Some people are still scared to eat it, but it’s becoming an environmentally conscious food choice, and every time you eat one of these you’re not eating a native fish, so it’s a win-win.  Chef Chad informs us that another great thing about these fish is that they have a very thick slime coat on their skin which protects the meat when frozen.  

Finally, the main event!  The server brings out a massive mound, a tower of delight for our taste buds.  The snakehead sits atop a pile of chorizo, black beans, cilantro, and grilled onions, all mashed together and charred to perfection.  The fish has white meat and it is firm, like a salmon or a thin piece of tuna.  The flavor of the fish is light, but it has been blackened with spices that offset the light flavor.  The mixture of chorizo, beans, onions, and cilantro is so amazingly delicious that I have trouble focusing on the snakehead itself, which is a shame, because a fish this good deserves to be the center piece, not a side show.  Nevertheless, snakehead proves to be a delicious fish.

Snakehead, the delicious main course

Today’s post was contributed by Dr. Christopher Patrick, an ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

These fish fight hard, and the small ones (5-20 lbs) taste great!  For this reason they were introduced into lakes, reservoirs, and river around the United States during the 20^th century and have become a controversial invasive presence. 

The blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus is one of North America’s largest catfish.  Native to the Mississippi River drainage, these long-lived, fast growing top predators will consume anything in their path and can reach astonishing sizes in excess of 140 lbs.

Blue catfish at the Tennessee Aquarium. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

In 1974, blue catfish were introduced into the James River in Virginia, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.  Authorities believed that the catfish would remain contained by high salinity levels down river, and would not be able to spread throughout the many rivers and tributaries that make up the largest estuary in the United States.  Today, the blue catfish can be found in increasing numbers in the Potomac River, another tributary of the Chesapeake, and there is fear that it is only a matter of time before these fish spread to the remaining uninvaded rivers in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.  While Blue Catfish cannot tolerate salinity levels in the lower reaches of the main channel, fish may get the opportunity to swim into the channel during major inundation events that reduce salinity levels, such as massive flows recorded on the Susquehanna River following Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Blue catfish have become very popular with local recreational and commercial anglers, while this is a good thing in an invasivore kind of way, Maryland DNR also the fear that misguided anglers could be moving fish to help speed their invasion.  Control efforts in Maryland have been largely unsuccessful so far, but new regulations may begin to have an effect on catfish numbers.

The next time you are in the Chesapeake Bay region, do your part by ordering some local blue catfish, and help eat these voracious invaders out of the Bay!

Robb from Boise

Robb from Boise gave Japanese honeysuckle a try.  You’ll recall our line of awesome honeysuckle mixed drinks a while back.  He helped us realize we forget to mention something important about brewing it: don’t brew in hot water!  Here’s his story:

1.  Find nice selection of blossoms.
2.  Pick enough to fill a standard size coffee filter.

3.  Using a “Mister Coffee” ice tea brewer (cause thats what I have and was too lazy to do it the old fashioned way), fill brewing tray, water and ice as directed.

4.  Start brew sequence.

The resulting tea had an ominous color, but not too bad.  The brewed blossoms looked like soggy marsh grass and smelled like rotting alfalfa.  Unfortunately, the iced tea tasted like rotting alfalfa, too.  I tried to save the concoction by adding sweetener, which only made it taste like sweetened rotting alfalfa.

5.  Pour failed experiment down drain!

Thanks Robb!  We’ve always said that eating invasive species is a learning process, and sharing failures is as great as sharing success!  Next time, Sheina recommends soaking the blossoms in COLD WATER overnight, in the fridge, for the best results!

This species profile is a guest contribution from Dr. Sean Hoban, a postdoctoral scholar and food blogger in Italy. 

“Here we go round the mulberry bush… in search of an invasive treat.”

The fruits of white mulberry (Morus alba) resemble blackberries in appearance and taste- sweet and tart.  White mulberries are available from late spring to summer.  They are ripe when you can gently pull them from their branches.  One particularly efficient method of harvest (and a method that will help avoid staining your hands purple!) is to spread a sheet on the ground and shake the tree.

The fruit can be eaten raw (especially good with fresh cream), put into pies or tarts or jams, or made into wine.  Eat or prepare the fruit promptly- they will ferment or mold after just a few days in the fridge.  They can, however, be frozen for longer storage.

White mulberry photo courtesy of Will Cook http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/moal.html

Fast facts:

The release of mulberry pollen grains is literally explosive!  Grains are propelled from the catkins (male flowers) at a speed of 350 mph, among the fastest movements in plants.

The name “white mulberry” can be misleading.  The berries are not necessarily white (although sometimes they are), and they are not even true berries.  Rather, they are a fruit known as an aggregated drupe.

The wood of mulberry trees is used in hockey sticks.

 This species profile is a guest contribution from Dr. Sean Hoban, a postdoctoral scholar and food blogger in Italy.  

“I still remember discovering a row of small trees with a fruit like a blackberry and leaves vaguely resembling sassafras on my path to school.  After a little research, I began to gather handfuls of fruit each day on my walk home.”  

White mulberry (Morus alba), a fast-growing (as a seedling, four feet per year!), deciduous, medium size (generally 10 to 20 m tall) tree, was introduced from northern China to North America from the 16^th to the 19^th century to feed silkworms.  Though my own row of trees still bore silken nests full of wriggling worms, the silk industry never came to fruition and white mulberry was here to stay, finding use as an ornamental tree and as supplemental feed for livestock in the dry season.  Due to its strong branches, it is also planted as a windbreak and apparently makes a great climbing tree.  It is tolerant of drought, poor soil, and pollution, so is common in urban environments.  Some homeowners plant mulberry because of its propensity to attract many birds- it is a favorite food of cardinals, robins, orioles, finches, thrushes and more.

White mulberry leaves (though considerable variation in leaf structure exists). Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

With widespread planting over more than two centuries, and continued distribution by nurseries, white mulberry has naturalized in semiurban and rural areas in most states and three Canadian provinces as well as central Asia and southern Europe.  A detailed description of its invasive occurrence, by region, is found here.  Rapid growth, aggressive and deep roots, tolerance of poor soils, and efficient dispersal mechanism (small mammals and birds eat the berries, spreading them far and wide) makes white mulberry a terrific invader.  White mulberry can be particularly difficult to eradicate once established.  If cut down, stumps can sprout and grow vigorously into a new tree.  It can form dense stands that exclude other plants.  One of the main recognized threats of white mulberry is to the native red mulberry (Morus rubra), found throughout the eastern hardwood forest.  The species are weakly differentiated genetically and ecologically, and are highly interfertile.  Therefore, the non-native is a direct and successful competitor for space, and is gradually replacing the native with hybrids- white mulberry and hybrids may now outnumber the native red mulberry!

Distinguishing the two species is difficult, but guides with excellent pictures of buds, bark and leaves can help.  One way you can control this invader is to make sure that your next nursery purchase is a native red mulberry rather than its invasive relative (and request that your nursery promote indigenous species in general).  Also, inquire with your local, state, or regional authorities to see if parks and roadsides are landscaped with natives.

If you are able to identify the white mulberries in your neighborhood or local woodlot, you can help limit reproductive success through delicious harvest!  Stay tuned for our tips on white mulberry harvest and preparation.

Miles of ice and cold temperatures during the last glaciation (~10,000 years ago) made Canada and the Northern US completely inhospitable to earthworms.  Earthworms naturally disperse at a very slow rate (max 10 m/year), and native worms that were confined to the southern US have not moved very far north.  What we find now in the previously glacier-covered lands are European species of earthworms transported to North America by humans.  Most likely, European worms arrived here through soil used for ships’ ballast or among the roots of plants moved to the new world.  Once established in North America, people continued to move worms to new areas both intentionally and involuntarily with plants, in soil, and in clods of dirt stuck to tire treads and horse hooves.

One common earthworm, the European nightcrawler Lumbricus terrestris. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

After the glaciers receded from North America, a very unique forest community developed.  With no large-bodied decomposers, thick layers of leaf litter (called duff) accumulated and plant and animal species took advantage of this new habitat.  When European earthworms encounter these previously earthworm free forests, they chew through the thick litter rapidly with devastating effects on the forest floor.  By consuming the duff layer, earthworms alter nutrient cycling, expose bare soil to erosion, and reduce populations of plants and animals using the thick litter layer as habitat.  The effects of European earthworms are most apparent in parts of Northern Minnesota where the populations of invasive earthworms advance through forests like an invading army creating a striking visual of bare soil where the earthworms have been and thick litter layers soon to be consumed by the worms.  Furthermore, the rare goblin fern is threatened with extinction by invasive earthworms.

Although the presence of invasive earthworms in certain forests is devastating, the story of whether earthworms are good or bad isn’t simple.  Like some other invasive species (e.g., Pacific salmon in the Great Lakes) we do get some benefit from these foreign worms.  In agricultural fields and gardens without leaf litter, the mixing of soil by earthworms actually improves soil porosity and fertility.  Like many other invasives, once worms move from the garden to the forest there is no way to remove them.  So the best we can do is slow the invasion by being careful with how we handle soil, plants, compost, and bait buckets that contain earthworms.  The story of invasive earthworms doesn’t end here because new earthworms from Asia are being discovered in North America and early evidence shows that these worms are even more voracious feeders than their European brethren.  So remember to contain those crawlers!

This guest contribution comes to us from Dr. David Costello, a research fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research at the University of Michigan.  Dr. Costello earned his B.S. in Biology from Hobart College and his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Notre Dame.  Currently, his research focuses on how invasive species and chemical contaminants affect the structure and function of ecosystems.

We’re honored to share this tasty crayfish recipe from Dr. Charles Goldman, one of the fathers of modern limnology!  Dr. Goldman has spent over 40 years conducting research on Lake Tahoe, home to today’s featured ingredient, the signal crayfish.

Mini-Profile: Signal Crayfish

Signal crayfish (Pacifasticus leniusculus) are native to western North America, living in freshwater lakes and streams from California to British Columbia.  Invasive populations occur in at least 25 countries in Europe as well as Japan.  Like Louisiana and rusty crayfish, introduced signal crayfish have voracious appetites and can greatly reduce invertebrate and plant populations and can outcompete and displace native crayfish.

Recipe: Lake Tahoe Crayfish Boil

Ingredients

10 liters water

1 liter dry white wine (recommended: Sauvignon blanc or Muscadet)

2 large onions, chopped

4 lemons (juice plus 2-3 whole squeezed fruit)

1 cup fresh parsley

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp black peppercorns

0.5 oz dill weed

4 lbs whole crayfish

Directions

Bring water to a boil before adding all ingredients except crayfish.  Boil until onions are soft, then add crayfish and maintain at a boil for about 10 minutes or until crayfish are bright red.  Remove from heat and let crayfish cool in the water.  The longer crayfish soak,the more flavorful they will become.  Dr. Goldman even recommends letting the crayfish steep overnight for maximum flavor.  Whenever you are ready, simply peel* and enjoy!

*If you need a refresher, instructions for peeling crayfish can be found here.

Boiled signal crayfish. Photo credit: Marion Wittmann