Product review : Crunchy critters : “Kids Critter” & “The world’s hottest cricket”

Hello everyone!

Today is review’s day! I have different products from Crunchy critters and today it’s the first tasting : “Start softly and finish strong!”

We tasted two different products : “The kids critter – Mealworms and crickets” and “The world’s hottest cricket” from Crunchy critters.

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The company

Crunchy critters is an english insect supplier. They have the biggest variety of bugs I’ve ever seen and ship their products all around the world (I made a simulation for the French Polynesia and it seems to work!). Their motto is :“Face the fear, forge the fashion, feed the future.”

You can find a large variety of “usual” european crickets, mealworms, buffalo worms and grasshoppers all raised in Europe.

If you want some more “exoticism”, you will also be able to find some Mexican Chapulines, Thai Giant waterbugs, Rhino Beetles, tarentulas or scorpions.

If I can use only one word for summarizing my first thoughts about Crunchy Critters : PROFESSIONALISM.

crunchy critters cricket mealworms entomove entomoveproject edible insects entomophagy review

Just click on the image!

Even if hey are playing on different “non-serious factors” such as the fun or the fear factor, they show an impressive clarity and integrity about their information. Everything is on their website and it’s clear.

The Mega plus point : “Our products have been manufactured using only the highest quality ingredients and are produced following Good Manufacturing Practice.

However, if within 14 days of receipt you feel dissatisfied with your purchase simply return the remainder of the product to us telling us why and we will be happy to refund the cost of your order. This offer does not include return postage costs.”


The packaging

crunchy critters cricket mealworms entomove entomoveproject edible insects entomophagy review

Let’s start with the little tiny packaging of the “Kid critter“. It’s a little plastic box inside a resealable stand-up polypouch. The box is generously filled with 5 grams of products, which represents approximatively 90 freeze dried crickets and mealworms.

For illustrating the product, they have used some different insects images in nice pastel colors… Its very smooth and soft… I wanna cuddle these tiny bugs…! It’s definitely nice and appealing for the children.

crunchy critters cricket mealworms entomove entomoveproject edible insects entomophagy review

Let’s continue strongly with the packaging of the “World’s hottest cricket“. The pack contains about 200 freeze-dried crickets for a weight of 20 grams. The pack used is a nice silver resealable pack with a transparent back for a first face-to-face with our hot crickets!

The image used represents a cricket on fire and says “World’s Hottest Crickets” & “Fiercely spiced Fiery Hot Crickets” (They are not lying!!)

The information about the product are available at the bottom of the packaging and they are very clear and exhaustive. This is clearly the kind of information I like to have when I buy some food.

crunchy critters cricket mealworms entomove entomoveproject edible insects entomophagy review

This what I call high standards!

For ending this part, I find that the packaging is very representative of my thoughts about Crunchy Critters : Simple, sober, clear and serious. If I could add something it would be a little sticker for covering the plastic box of the “Kid Critter” but that, it’s really a detail…


Tasting review

Here again, we will start softly and gently with the tiny little box of “the Kid Critters” containing some freeze dried crickets and mealworms.

The composition of the little box is : 30% of crickets (Acheta Domesticus) and 70% of mealworms (Tenebrio Molitor) raised in the Netherlands.

crunchy critters cricket mealworms entomove entomoveproject edible insects entomophagy review

Visually, the adorable mealworms present a nice gold color and the cute crickets are silver-grey. All of them arrived safely in France and were in good state. (But, not for a long time!)

In mouth, they have a very nice texture. We found them soft and tender at the same time. Even if the 2 species are packed together, the 2 different tastes are distinct and distinguished.

We found them smooth and smelting we were delighted like children. Definitely, a perfect first jump in the edible insect world!

Another very good point for this product : it’s the price. It’s only 3£ and will be perfect for concluding your order. It will be a nice and original little gift for a little bug eater!


But now, it’s time again for leaving the gentle world of the little “Kid Critter” and taste the “World Hottest Cricket”!

Here, the crickets are also coming from the Netherlands and are processed directly in the UK.

The recipe is made is with some freeze dried cricket mixed with a hot chili marinade of :

  • Soy sauce
  • Fresh Chilies
  • Paprika
  • Sesame seeds

I’m sorry I have no photo of this product… My friend and I were too ferocious… But, this clearly means a lot…

We are all unanimous : This recipe deserves it’s name, it’s clearly the hottest cricket we’ve never eaten (and maybe the hottest food ever even if I like spicy foods!)

The crickets have a very nice fire-red color covered with a lot of spicy sparkles (some of the seasoning stays at the bottom of the bag, but that’s a trap!!!!) When we opened the bag, the smell was very appealing and we can clearly smell the crickets and the premise of the hot storm. I knew that if insects were red, it was a warning signal!

At the beginning when you put in the mouth, you just taste the smooth nutty flavor of the cricket and after some few crunchy bitesIt’s the hot tornado!

crunchy critters cricket mealworms entomove entomoveproject edible insects entomophagy review vegeta dragon ball z meme

You can tell when a funny image is a fail… It’s when you’ve got to explain the references and in this case, I will probably need to… But I won’t, I will let you search by yourself and give me your feedbacks in the comment section! (And then it surely will be a second fail, because it’s not so funny…)

Note : If you want the hottest experience of your life, throw the end of the bag in your mouth… (In comparaison, the 20 hours mating’s duration of the cantharid is a romance!)


Nutritional values

I will repeat myself… But here again, Crunchy Critters shows some rigor and clarity. Here are the detailed nutritional values coming from their website :

Mealworms (freeze dried):

  • Energy (kcal/100g) : 550
  • Fat (g/100g product) : 37.2 of which
  • Saturated fatty acids : 9.0
  • Mono-unsaturated fatty acids : 17.3
  • Poly-unsaturated fatty acids : 10.9
  • Carbohydrates (g/100g product): 5.4 of which
  • Sugars (g/100g product): 0
  • Fibre (g/100g product) : 6.5
  • Protein (g/100g product) : 45.1
  • Salt (g/100g product) : 0.37

Crickets (freeze-dried):

  • Energy (kcal/100g) : 458
  • Fat (g/100g product) : 18.5 of which
  • Saturated fatty acids : 7.0
  • Mono-unsaturated fatty acids : 5.3
  • Poly-unsaturated fatty acids : 6.4
  • Carbohydrates (g/100g product) : 0 of which
  • Sugars (g/100g product) : 0
  • Fibre (g/100g product) : 7.7
  • Protein (g/100g product) : 69.1
  • Salt (g/100g product) : 1.03

Yes, these products contains some fat and are high in calories but it’s normal. These are freeze-dried insects : all the water has been “sucked up”; so all the nutrients and minerals are concentrated. That’s also why you have so many insects in your bag for a so little weight.

If you don’t understand how the calcul is made for the carbohydrates and the fibre content, it’s also normal. Nobody does… There is a real debate about this in the nutritional world : “Should fibres be listed as carbohydrates as they are not completely digested?” (Yeah, I know I may be the only here who find this debate really interesting…)


Conclusion

For a conclusion for this first review of some Crunchy critters product, I say totally : YES!

The contrast of tastes between the little smoothness of the “Kid Critter” box and the really strong “Hottest Cricket in the world” was definitely a great experience!

I can’t generalize, it’s only the first experience but Crunchy Critter clearly exudes confidence and show some very interesting prices for some high quality products.

I can’t wait to taste their other products but I will soon do it in another review : It will be very British with the Frankenstein Fudge and some crickets marinated in some Jack Daniel’s whisky : Tennessee Cricket (Yeah, I know Jack Daniel’s is “not a whisky” and it’s from Tennessee in America, but please close your eyes, I’m trying to create some themes for my reviews. Thank you for your cooperation!)

You will also discover why I can’t be objective with this kind of products… (This has nothing to do with alcohol!)


I hope you had a nice reading (and a lot of laugh with my so funny mysterious image!). Next week, it will be another review but it’ll be a surprise! (Or, it’s just that I don’t have decided yet which product to taste first…)

Take care and see you soon!

Florian

Flo

Formerly I'm an environmental engineer, personal trainer, fitness nutrition specialist and "Entotarian". In the edible insects industry for five years, I've been consultant for an insect farm in France, free-lance writer and international speaker. After developing the world's first table-top farm, I'm now in Paris with Jimini's where we are developing and selling delicious insects. I would say that my life revolves around eating insects.

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3 Responses

  1. Oldskool says:

    Here’s hoping your ref was for DBZ-Abridged…. That is much funnier, IMO.

    This was a sensational review! You really made me feel like I was catching up with a friend, *and* vicariously experiencing the taste-test!

    Thanks for a very fun read!

    • Flo says:

      Thanks a lot for the comment,

      I’m very glad that you liked the review (and moreover that you enjoyed the joke!)

      Have a nice day and let’s share some spicy crickets!

      Florian

  1. 26/06/2015

    […] is the second review from Crunchy Critters products! Last month, we tasted (and loved!) the “Hottest Cricket in the world” and “The kid critter : Crickets & […]

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