Thomas Micolino, owner of Eiscafé Rino, shows off an ice cream made partly of cricket flour with a dried cricket sitting on top. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa (Photo by Marijan Murat/picture alliance via Getty Images)
BERLIN - A German ice cream parlor has expanded its menu with a skin-crawling offering: cricket-flavored scoops with dried brown crickets on top.
The unusual confection is available at Thomas Micolino's store in southern Germany's town of Rottenburg am Neckar, German news agency dpa reported Thursday.
Micolino has a habit of creating flavors that are far outside Germans' typical preferences for strawberry, chocolate, banana and vanilla ice cream.
In the past, he's offered liver sausage and Gorgonzola cheese ice cream as well gold-plated ice cream for 4 euros ($4.25) per scoop.
"I am a very curious person and want to try everything," Micolino told dpa. "I’ve eaten a lot of things, including a lot of strange things, and crickets were something I still wanted to try, also in the form of ice cream."
Thomas Micolino, owner of Eiscafé Rino, portions ice cream, from a bowl. The cricket ice cream consists partly of cricket flour is decorated with dried crickets. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa (Photo by Marijan Murat/picture alliance via Getty Images)
That he can now produce the cricket flavor is due to a European Union regulation that allows the use of the insects in food.
Under the regulation, crickets may be frozen, dried or used as a powder. The EU already allowed migratory locusts and flour beetle larvae as a food additive, dpa reported.
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Micolino's ice cream is made of cricket flour, heavy cream, vanilla extract and, honey, and he tops it with dried whole crickets. It has a "surprising yummy taste" — or at least that's what he wrote on Instagram.
The creative vendor says that while some people are disgusted and even upset that he is offering insect ice cream, curious customers have mostly liked the new flavor.
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"Those who try it are very enthusiastic," Micolino said. "I have customers who come here every day and buy a scoop."
One of his customers, Konstantin Dick, gave the cricket-infused flavor a positive review, telling dpa: "Yes, it’s really very tasty and edible."
Another customer, Johann Peter Schwarze, also praised the ice cream's creamy consistency, but added that "you can still sense the cricket in the ice cream."