Hopper Crunch

Getting your protein from crickets is good for the planet.  One pound of protein from crickets costs only one gallon of water and two pounds of feed.   Cows need 1000 gallons of water and 10 pounds of feed.  

Here in Austin, Jack Ceadel, John Hopper, and Marta Hudacova drew on crowdfunding to launch a line of energy bars using cricket flour.  They now market their mixture in bags as granola. 

Hopper Crunch comes in three varieties: Cranberry & Almond; Toasted Coconut; and Cacao & Cayenne.  In with the apricots, pumpkin seeds, and other ingredients is cricket flour.  The locally grown, responsibly raised, and humanely harvested herd provides about 15% of the mass of each bag.  One-half cup of granola gives you 9 grams of protein.

 

It was a tough sell, even at Wheatsville Co-op, but
John Tucker of Hopper Foods found positive response.

Roasted and ground into flour, the crickets are impossible to taste in the mix.  Here in Austin, we have cricket invasions.  You can smell them in the stairwells.  But you cannot taste them in these products. And these crickets are raised on a farm, not scooped up in the city.  "You would not want to eat a cricket off your lawn," John told me, "because they eat anything."

At $10.99 for 8 ounces, it is pricy, but it is a snack or treat, and in line with similar products.  Myself, I add it to oatmeal, along with hemp seeds and whatever else.  It also goes well with mixed nuts, and, clearly, other granola.

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