# What to do with drone larvae?



## MichaBees

I asked on the forum if larva can be eaten, Michael Bush said they are not too good. 
I will be trying to stir fry some, with some powder chile and garlic, I will let you know if they are good.


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## DeeAnna

Apparently "Hachinoko" is eaten in Japan, but I do not know how the Japanese use it in their cuisine. I would imagine brood eaten raw might not be especially yummy -- probably rather bland. The fritter recipe had drone larvae and pupae (mostly white), about the same volume of fresh sweet corn kernels, shallot, green onion, minced garlic, egg, flour, salt, and a homemade chile sauce. The brood was there as a protein source, but I imagine the sweet corn, onion, garlic, and chile sauce provided the dominant flavors.


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## honeyman46408

> I would imagine brood eaten raw might not be especially yummy


I have been told by a beekeeper that took a bite of comb honey that had brood on the other side of the comb that the brood was *bitter 
*


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## DeeAnna

Could be that cooking mellows the flavor -- think of raw vs. cooked onion or garlic. Also a bitter flavor might fit in okay with the other flavors in the fritter. But I'm just guessing here, since I haven't tried it.


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## RayMarler

This was not brood, but a bee flew into my coffee and I drank her up, chewed her on the way down, tasted bitter green to me, and was crunchy even tho soaked in coffee.


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## DeeAnna

Mmmmmm, Ray, sounds like that was an "interesting" experience! 

Someone posted to this thread (but for some reason the post is not showing up here) that they use bee pupae for fishing bait. That's not exactly a recipe, I suppose, unless you want to count it as an ingredient required to catch a nice supper. But it is a good use for pupae that might otherwise be discarded.

I look forward, MichaBees, to hear about your cooking experiment. I am very curious to learn if cooking changes the flavor of the brood vs. raw.


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## Michael Bush

I haven't eaten them on a regular basis. Maybe the ones I ate had been fed something bitter... but they were a bit bitter. Not horrible, just not as pleasant as I had hoped.


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## brushmouth

Thought I might try freezing for ice fishing bait?
Anyone tried them? 

BM


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## Kazzandra

I was just looking at my first potential brood combs and had planned freezing them for fishing bait!

Otherwise, I'm sure the chickens would know what to do with them.

I would imagine pet lizards would think frozen drones would be a godsend! Not having to buy crickets all of the time? That would be wonderful for the caretaker, as well.


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## Bodhi

Kazzandra said:


> Otherwise, I'm sure the chickens would know what to do with them.


Once the Sebrights figured out what as under the cappings, they loved them. The less developed brood was favored over the older.


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## Gypsi

RayMarler said:


> This was not brood, but a bee flew into my coffee and I drank her up, chewed her on the way down, tasted bitter green to me, and was crunchy even tho soaked in coffee.


That spider that got in my coffee wasn't real tasty either, but I didn't die. This is good.


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## Gypsi

Bodhi said:


> Once the Sebrights figured out what as under the cappings, they loved them. The less developed brood was favored over the older.


Chickens love eating anything that doesn't eat chicken... And most any bug seems to be a treat!


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## sevenmmm

I tried freezing some larvae and they turned black. 

Will try some fresh ones here soon, but they seem fragile and don't think they will last very long on the hook.


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