Physical, nutritional, and sensory properties of spray-dried and oven-roasted cricket (Acheta domesticus) powders

Processing crickets into a versatile dry powder ingredient may facilitate their utilisation in a variety of food products. Three dried cricket ingredients – oven-roasted cricket meal; the same ingredient milled to a smaller particle size, called oven-roasted cricket powder; and spray-dried cricket powder – were prepared and evaluated for their physical, nutritional and sensory properties. Oven-roasted cricket powder had a smaller range of particle sizes and fewer large particles compared to spray-dried cricket powder. Consumer panellists rated oven-roasted cricket powder as less gritty than the other two ingredients. Prepared as a protein drink, oven-roasted cricket powder had the highest viscosity and an intermediate sedimentation rate. Differences between treatments existed in proximate analysis parameters and nutrients, but amounts were similar to previously reported values for cricket powders. Consumer panellists preferred the smaller particle-sized oven-roasted powder over larger particle-sized oven-roasted meal or the spray-dried powder ingredients, as indicated by all sensory acceptance attributes, preference ranking, and purchase likelihood.