jasjmm27 wrote:By the way...where do you keep the roasted insects after you have roasted them? In the freezer or just in the fridge?
Also...does it really work to just cool them in the fridge to make them not move? What happens when they warm up in the oven to a point where they can move? It seems they are just placed on a cookie sheet...did you lose any that were able to jump around? That part is intriguing! :)
Great questions, Jason! (You *do* think like an engineer!)
I wash them off first, then put them in a sealed container (with airholes) in the fridge for an hour or more to put them into a torpid state. Pre-heat the oven and a deep turkey roasting pan to 200 F. Dump the cold, torpid crickets into the pre-heated pan. They *do* warm up quickly and start jumping around a little bit in a disoriented way, so the first time I tried this (using a cookie sheet) a few of them hopped onto the bottom of the oven and had to be cleaned out so they wouldn't burn there. But in a deep, preheated pan, they don't seem to be able to jump very well for very long, and aren't able to hop out (which is why I recommend the turkey roasting pan instead of a cookie sheet -- but don't put the lid on the pan, you want it open so they can dry out).
After slow roasting at 200 F for about an hour, they should be dry enough to crumble when you squeeze one between your fingers. I take them out of the oven and immediately put them in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator, so they do not absorb any moisture from the atmosphere and stay dry. When you open the jar to take some out for feeding, close it again as quickly as possible so moisture from the air does not condense on the cold crickets in the open jar. I would think condensation and moisture would be likely to cause them to spoil quickly. I don't know that they actually need to be refrigerated once dry, but I figured it would extend their "shelf-life". Freezing ought to be fine, too -- but you'll have a similar condensation problem if you open the jar at room temperature. You'd probably want to freeze them in small portion ziploc bags so you could allow them to warm up to room temperature before opening the bag (that is, if you wanted to keep them dry and crunchy -- it might not matter if they get a bit soggy if you're feeding them to your critters immediately anyway).
As for taste, the one I tried tasted sort of like a cross between nuts and dirt... (so I didn't actually swallow it). I suppose it depends on what they ate recently. (And I didn't raise these -- I purchase them by the box of 1000 from a nyworms.com). Baking them at 200 F for an hour should kill almost any bacteria. That probably wouldn't kill most viruses, but I'm not sure whether they can carry any viruses that would be harmful to mammals anyway... (Most viruses that are adapted to reptiles, for example, can't survive in a warm-blooded host, so I *hope* the same is true for invertebrates!) :-)
-- Celeste
I think eggs have been the favorite of my Indo so far as well...I may have to try something like that in the near future! Maybe a roasted ROACH omellete? 
)
Looks like quite a good meal though!
I've kept crickets before for feeders, and they are nastiest, foulest, stinkiest little bugs I have ever encountered!!
I have never taste-tested a bug! 