Aphids: These are little soft green, black or clear insects that suck the sap out of the leaves and twigs of plants. They can be quite a pest. Rose bushes, plum and ash trees, cabbage family crops and lettuce that is going to seed are favorite hosts. (I would not eat aphids that are feeding on plum leaves as the leaves are somewhat toxic.) They are very good to eat, although they can be a little bitter depending on what plant they are feeding on. Ants eat the excrement of aphids and can often be seen transporting them around a plant or tree to get more of this food. Lady bugs and lady bug larvae, however, eat the aphids.
Ants and ant larvae: My favorite kind of ant are the medium size, all black ‘foraging’ ants. I also eat the large, solid black ‘wood’ or ‘carpenter’ ants. If you find an ants’ nest try the larvae (they look like little blimps). They are delicious! The tiny red ants that infest the over-ripe marion berries taste awful. That’s because they take the sugar from the berries underground and let it grow fungus before eating it. Eeww…
Cicada: These are fairly large, winged insects that lay their eggs in the bark of the twigs of deciduous trees, such as fruit trees, Saskatoon bushes and maple. They can do damage to the twigs. The adult phase of their life is quite short, so if you want to catch some of these (delicious!) little beasts, go out near some trees on the first really warm, sunny days of spring and listen for the clicking sound that they use to attract their mates. You have to be pretty quick to catch them off the twigs. It’s a fun challenge!
Grasshoppers, crickets: I just ate my first cricket. Usually they gross me out, but it was hopping across clean snow and I ran over it with my ski, so… it was sweet, delicious, and much less crunch than grasshoppers which I eat occasionally raw, but are really better cooked. Native Idaho people would fill a trench with water, then use a small grass fire to herd grasshoppers into the water, getting several meals worth of grasshoppers at a time. Mormon crickets are also edible. They are wing-less, light brown or salmon in color and quite a bit heavier than the black crickets that chirp at night.
Wasp and hornet larvae: I don’t usually eat wasp larvae and not just because there’s a good chance of getting stung. Wasps eat aphids, so they are considered a beneficial garden insect. But judging from the lengths that bears and skunks go to get at wasp and hornet larvae, it is a very good source of nutrition. One day I was sitting under a wasp nest that was built in an unusual way and the larvae was falling down at my feet. I ate all that fell and they were delicious! Another time I had to destroy a hornets nest that was on my porch that was getting aggressive with me. We fried the larvae and it was hearty and tasty!
Wood grubs: These are larvae several different moths. They eat decaying wood. I usually find them in grand fir when I’m cutting firewood. They have a large set of jaws, a large head and then a tapering wrinkled-looking body. They are creamy, both in color and flavor. I just make sure not to eat the jaws, since they are designed for chewing through wood, and many insects have the ability to move quite a bit even after they are dead.