Arachnids as food

Some arachnids may be used for human consumption (edible arachnids), either whole or as an ingredient in processed food products such as cheese (Milbenkäse).[1] Arachnids include spiders, scorpions, and mites (including ticks).

For the cultural and biological process of eating arachnids, see Arachnophagy.

Spiders
Fried spiders for sale at the market in Skuon

Edible spiders include:

Scorpions
Fried scorpions for sale at food market in Beijing

Fried scorpion is traditionally eaten in Shandong, China.[3]

Mites
Main article: Cheese mite
A wheel of young Milbenkäse

Milbenkäse (mite cheese) is a German speciality cheese.

Mimolette is a mite cheese traditionally produced around the city of Lille, France.

Cheese mites could cause an allergic reaction if consumed in large quantities (above the standard of six mites per cubic inch).[4]

Processing

Typical processing of arachnids as food includes heating, defanging and, in certain cases, drying and grinding.[1]

Footnotes
  1. E.M. Costa-Neto, N.T. Grabowski (27 November 2020): Edible arachnids and myriapods worldwide – updated list, nutritional profile and food hygiene implications. In: Journal of Insects as Food and Feed: 0 (0), pp. 1-20. doi: https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2020.0046
  2. Low, T. (8 August 2016): The tasty spider. In: Australian Geographic. Online: .
  3. Forney, Matthew (June 11, 2008). "Scorpions for Breakfast and Snails for Dinner". The New York Times.
  4. "Mimolette imports on hold". SFGate. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
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