While most would prefer to see cockroaches squashed on the back of a shoe, the creepy critters may soon be popping up on cafe menus across the nation.
Cockroach milk could become a new addition to the superfood craze, with food-conscious Australians opting for a dairy alternative in their morning coffee.
The cockroach crystals, which contain the milk, ‘are like a complete food’ with ‘all the essential amino acids’, a researcher from the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India has claimed.
Cockroach milk could become a new addition to the superfood craze, with food-conscious Australians opting for a dairy alternative in their morning coffee
Another researcher told U.S. National Public Radio he tried the milk and it tasted no different from cow’s milk.
Milk found from the Australian native Pacific beetle cockroach was found to contain protein sequences with all the essential amino acids, plus proteins, fats, and sugars and three times the energy of dairy milk, the 2016 study found.
Some people may find it surprising that the bug even makes milk at all.
Diploptera Punctata is the only species of roach that gives birth to living offspring, as opposed to laying eggs, and produces milk to feed their young.
The cockroach crystals, which contain the milk, ‘are like a complete food’ with ‘all the essential amino acids’, a researcher from the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India has claimed
But being so tiny, they don’t make a whole lot of it and it could take 1,000 cockroaches to make 100 grams of milk, science news website Inverse reported.
In fact, Gwyneth Paltrow’s food and lifestyle website Goop included roaches in their animal milk guide.
‘As might be expected, the process of ‘milking’ a cockroach is precise and laborious,’ the website stated.
‘The only way [to milk a cockroach] would be to make cultures of yeast with the genes in it for making this milk,’ said Barbara Stay, Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.
The cockroaches would needed to be ‘milked’ with filter paper, Ms Stray suggested.
South African company Gourmet Grubb is already selling ‘Entomilk’ created from sustainably farmed insects.
‘One of the most pivotal benefits of Entomilk is that it has a high protein content and is rich in mineral such as iron, zinc, and calcium,’ the site’s description of the product reads.
Cockroaches have a reputation for being one of the hardiest creatures on the planet. One researcher told U.S. National Public Radio he tried the milk and it tasted no different from cow’s milk
Milk found from the Australian native Pacific beetle cockroach was found to contain protein sequences with all the essential amino acids, plus proteins, fats, and sugars and three times the energy of dairy milk, the 2016 study found