Edible ants from Tropical Australia

bursting with a lemon flavouring

Green Tree Ants are wild caught (easier than it sounds!), hand-sorted to remove leaf nest debris and silk, frozen and then freeze dried. The freeze-dried ants have an unique citrusy, tangy and slightly spicy flavour and are highly nutritious, containing ~% 50 crude protein.

The freeze-drying process removes ~ 98% of the water content of the ants and is ideal for retaining their flavour, nutritional content, and shape. They are easily rehydrated in warm water and quickly regain a similar appearance to freshly caught ants.

Green Tree Ants construct their homes high up in trees. They create nesting chambers from leaves which are pulled together through the cooperation of many worker ants.

They are quite aggressive to perceived threats and have a fierce painful bite. To add to the pain, they squirt acid from their abdomen into the bite site.

Typically a Green Tree Ant nest comprises a mixture of a large queen, adult workers and immature larvae (workers and sometimes alates) which are white.

There is no way of separating them in the processing.

There are also occasionally small pea sized clumps of white eggs present.

I was given a spoonful of freshly frozen green tree ants and I can report that it was like biting into a whole lemon with a slight numbing effect!

You can add them to chocolate, dukkah, jams, gins, marmalade, syrups - let your imagination run wild… just as chef Simon Furley with his Gondwana Trifle (Bush lemon and mandarin jelly, Victoria sponge, sweet creme fraiche, citrus custard, finger lime, lemon myrtle and green ants).

Or like this Green Ant and Raspberry Meringue Shards created by a customer

• 10gm freeze dried = 40gm fresh

  

  This nest was located in a tree that was felled in far north Queensland. Green Tree Ants are the nemesis of arborists in the north as the insects don't like being disturbed and have a fierce bite.