Yes, you read that right. Tarantula…dipped in chocolate.
I think it’s pretty safe to say this is uncharted waters for most of the people reading this and I did this with enormous reservations. I won a contest on Think Geek‘s Twitter feed and when they asked why I’d want one of five dessicated, edible (slightly out-of-date) tarantulas, I told them I had a friend who said she would eat anything if it were dipped in chocolate, so they sent me one! And then my friend chickened out. But I promised Think Geek a report, so I had to bite the chitinous bullet on this one and try it myself. My friend owes me Big Time.
I don’t have arachnophobia, but I’m not a fan either. So it was with much trepidation that I even opened the package. I’ve had several people tell me that all manner of creepy crawlies are quite delicious, and the packaging on this says it’s a delicacy in Cambodia, but I still can’t get over the fact that it’s a spider. And a big, hairy one at that.
It's a big, hairy f***-off spider. And I'm gonna dip it in chocolate!
Once I took it out of the package and had a good look at it, it got really real. I was gonna have to eat this thing. Or at least parts of it. I had initially intended to dip one half in dark chocolate and the other half in milk chocolate, but after getting a good look at the, um, fleshy bits, I didn’t think I could do it. Some of the legs had broken off, so I figured I’d dip those in chocolate and try them. I could eat a tiny drumstick or two. Yes, that I could do. And if things went horribly wrong, I wouldn’t have wasted that much chocolate, either.
Speaking of the chocolate, I decided if I was going to do this right, Hershey’s wasn’t going to cut it. But then I’m not going to waste my imported Cadbury on it, either. So I got myself some Dagoba Organic Chocolate (it was on sale at the store) and chopped up half a bar of each and melted it.
Everything I need to coat a spider in chocolate!
Chopping up the milk chocolate so it will melt better.
I melted the chocolate in the microwave in 15 second increments so I wouldn’t overcook it. I did the two types one at a time and dipped a couple of legs in the milk chocolate before chopping and melting the dark chocolate. Once I had samples of both, I let them sit on the counter to cool. That wasn’t enough, so I eventually put them in the refrigerator. That did the trick and I could no longer put off sampling my chocolaty treats.
All dipped and cooling. Two legs each in dark and milk chocolate.
Eaten: one whole leg in dark chocolate and most of a leg in milk chocolate. Mmmm, crunchy...
I have to say, the taste was not as bad as I expected, but I still couldn’t get over “I’m eating a hairy spider leg.” Originally, I thought it was a bit like some sort of puffed crunchy cereal coated in chocolate, but the crunchy bits just…wouldn’t go away. It became more like eating the bran on a popcorn kernel dipped in chocolate. The chitin got stuck in all the nooks and crannies of my teeth and I eventually had to swish some water around in my mouth to dislodge it all. Not exactly what I would consider good eats.
While my original idea was to eat the whole thing, I found I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t overcome the revulsion I felt toward eating a tarantula, so I coated the rest of it in the dark chocolate for someone more adventurous than me to enjoy. I do still feel somewhat proud of myself for at least trying the legs, even if I couldn’t conquer my fears about the more substantial parts.
Rating for trying a chocolate covered tarantula: 4 out of 10.
The bits and pieces of the tarantula, coated in dark chocolate, waiting for someone braver than me.
