Photo: Pasco
food

Major Japanese bread producer begins selling croissants and cakes made from silkworms

17 Comments
By SoraNews24

Insect foods are on a roll.

With 100 years in the business, Pasco has certainly made a name for itself as a leading maker of bread and other baked goods in Japan. So it’s a pretty big deal to see them gradually embrace the idea of edible insects in their own products. Last year they started selling kits of flour made with ground-up crickets, but now they are taking it one step further by making their own range of foods from the powdery remnants of insects.

However, instead of crickets, Pasco has selected silkworms as their bug of choice and teamed up with the specialists at Silkfood to get it done. As a result they created the Mayu No Tayori No Croissant and the Mayu No Tayori No Madeleine.

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Most people would be relieved to see that these are just regular croissants and cakes, with no worms wiggling around inside. That’s because the silkworms have been ground down to a fine powder and blended into flour so we get all the flavor and nutritional benefits, without having to deal with the unpleasant visual aspect of the larvae.

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That still might be a hard bun for some to swallow, so Pasco and Silkfood worked hard to make these treats as palatable as possible by blending lots of rich butter and lemon zest into the dough. However, rather than simply masking the earthy umami of silkworm, it is hoped these flavors accentuate it to help people acquire a taste for it.

Mayu No Tayori No Croissants are sold in sets of ten for 2,592 yen and Mayu No Tayori No Madeleine come in boxes of six for the same price through Pasco’s online shop. The madeleine especially seem to be packaged in a set suitable to be given as a gift. However, if you do present it as a gift, be careful because insect food is said to have some similarities to crustaceans like shrimp and crab, so those with allergies to such seafood might be susceptible to adverse reactions.

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That, and I’m also not sure society is at a level where gifting each other with bread made from caterpillars is universally acceptable, so you may just want to buy some for yourself for now. However, if major companies like Pasco keep working at perfecting recipes, sustainable ingredients like these might become mainstream before too long.

Source: PascoPR Times

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- We visit “Rice and Circus,” a restaurant that combines bugs and Japanese-style cooking【Photos】

-- This entire Japanese meal was made with 6 kinds of bugs and some caterpillar poo

-- We try extra-unique souvenir sold by soon-to-be world heritage site — silkworm chocolate!

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

17 Comments
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I sure do miss tasty, healthy bread. Japanese “bread” sucks.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

What? I'll eat Nestum only for breakfast. Japanese rice for lunch and dinner. No silkworms!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Great news! I use silk worms in my morning coffee and now I can eat Japanese bread with silk worms too! Wow! A dream come true!

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should!

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I totally enjoy Japanese made bread. It is surrounded with a firm crust with the best tasting fluffy white bread ever. Japanese bakers are the world best and Europe bakers should take note of the world best practice in Bread baking

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

I sure do miss tasty, healthy bread. Japanese “bread” sucks.

Amen. If I wanted marshmallow, I'd ask for marshmallow.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

No thanks.

If you want something done properly, do it yourself. Bread isn’t difficult to make, and home-baked can be guaranteed free of creepy-crawlies. (Unless you leave it fitting out on the counter for a couple of weeks… but homemade bread tastes too good for any to ever be left).

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Yeah, how about learning how to actually make real bread, Pasco ?

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Yeah, nah.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Now,a cocoon macaroon,that might work.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I sure do miss tasty, healthy bread. Japanese “bread” sucks.

Yes, I miss grease-covered Twinkies and oil-soaked garlic bread.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

If this stuff is not clearly labelled, the only way to avoid it is to avoid all similar baked products.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Why? What is wrong with normal bread? I just don't understand the motivation for either making this muck or buying it. What next - tea made from cow urine?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

silk work BARF BARF. Cant trust any food anymore only what is not labled and not cooked by a resturant. Eat clean like a real body buildier no process foods nothing with a ingredient lablel. We are not design to eat bugs.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

In japan stay away from Bread and bakery and hamburger shops they use silk worms and this is not the first time its been revealed, Bikury Doneky burgers made of silk works. Global population growth is causing a food crisis. Traditional meat, such as beef, pork and chicken will maybe not satisfy our stomach in the future. In response to it, the movement is developing “insect food”, “vegetable meat” and “substitute meat” as alternative proteins is becoming active around the world.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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