Could A Millipedes be, In Theory, Edible if Cook In Some Special Way

richard22

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I know this is probably a stupid question, but expectably little info exists regarding millipede edibility to humans. Some sites mention to avoid eating them, but it doesn’t go into detail in what it could actually do to the body. I am not actually considering eating a millipede, I am just interested in how the human body would react. I assume the benzoquinones and/or especially the hydrogen cyanide would be pretty toxic to ingest, but I wonder if there could be a way to cook millipedes that emit only benzoquinones in such a way that it nullifies or removes the toxins. Of course if it doesn’t work you’ll probably get chemical burns all in your throat. I hear all millipedes have chemical defenses, so is this 100% true? Could there in theory be an edible millipede?
 

richard22

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I am pretty new to this scene, especially breeding millipedes.
 
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chanda

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I know this is probably a stupid question, but expectably little info exists regarding millipede edibility to humans. Some sites mention to avoid eating them, but it doesn’t go into detail in what it could actually do to the body. I am not actually considering eating a millipede, I am just interested in how the human body would react. I assume the benzoquinones and/or especially the hydrogen cyanide would be pretty toxic to ingest, but I wonder if there could be a way to cook millipedes that emit only benzoquinones in such a way that it nullifies or removes the toxins. Of course if it doesn’t work you’ll probably get chemical burns all in your throat. I hear all millipedes have chemical defenses, so is this 100% true? Could there in theory be an edible millipede?
Some people do eat some kinds of millipedes. You might find this article interesting: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2014/651768/
 

richard22

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Some people do eat some kinds of millipedes. You might find this article interesting: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2014/651768/
That is quite interesting, so I guess they’re sort of edible, though they probably taste bitter and like dirt with half the protein of even mealworms, only benefits are calcium and iron content and anti-malarial. You’d probably be much better off with pillbugs, and they might taste alright with their crunchy shrimp flavor, and still good calcium with no health risks if cooked. Centipedes probably taste better, not the mention they’d be safe to eat if their mandibles are cut.
 

Arthroverts

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Considering how slow breeding many millipedes can be (you'd literally have to have bins and bins of them to have enough millipedes to eat regularly without crashing the colony), their intolerance of crowding, and then combine that with their general unpalatability (not to mention toxins) and low nutritional value, makes me shy away from rearing this invertebrate group just to eat. I would consider investing in something that breeds and grows quicker, while also providing better nutrition.
You might want to look into fast-breeding roaches.

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts
 

richard22

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Considering how slow breeding many millipedes can be (you'd literally have to have bins and bins of them to have enough millipedes to eat regularly without crashing the colony), their intolerance of crowding, and then combine that with their general unpalatability (not to mention toxins) and low nutritional value, makes me shy away from rearing this invertebrate group just to eat. I would consider investing in something that breeds and grows quicker, while also providing better nutrition.
You might want to look into fast-breeding roaches.

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts
I do have fast breeding roaches, and I never planned on eating millipedes. I have heard some or all roaches might store uric acid in their bodies so hopefully that doesn’t affect the taste negatively. Crickets just suck, they just die and die from viruses and you waste time posting to forums and taking tests, Mealworms rarely pupate correctly (for me) and die, superworms are slow and still have some pupation issues, BSFL required high heat light and other conditions and lots of food in a complex custom enclosure, waxworms are hard to maintain but quick and simple, isopods eat the same stuff as millipedes unless you feed some other stuff too but are common, and some smaller bugs like grain weevils lesser mealworms termites and springtails require gratuitous amounts, so yeah roaches are one of the best choices. Almost as palatable..
 

BepopCola

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I've been super curious as to how a millipede or centipede would taste.
Most insects I've tried have all been a bit fishy ('cept for mealworms) so I'm wondering if the same goes for myriapods.
 

richard22

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I've been super curious as to how a millipede or centipede would taste.
Most insects I've tried have all been a bit fishy ('cept for mealworms) so I'm wondering if the same goes for myriapods.
You’d be better off hunting for centipedes and cooking them well and cutting their mandibles off, don’t risk it with millipedes. Freeze them, boil for a few mins, cut mandibles off and eat them or dehydrate and grind into a powder if you so desire. Symphalans are probably less than a milligram in weight, same with pauropods. Breeding centipedes like stone centipedes (common garden variety) is hard; they require other insects to eat like tarantulas, probably large enclosures, and they can cannibalize each other and are pretty gross, so you could look under stones for stone centipedes (ugly ones) under leaf litter in forests for soil centipedes (cooler looking ones). You could also look for house centipedes, but they’re pretty petite and super fast and not as easy to find everywhere.


Stone Centipede, common.


Soil centipedes, harder to find


House centipedes, maybe harder to find. Fun fact they are predators of common household pests, so you really shouldn’t kill them because they’re doing a job for you.
 
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