Cold Dressed Acidic Ant Eggs

Cold Dressed Acidic Ant Eggs

　　In the Dai villages of Menglian, during the hot summer months, you can enjoy a highly protein-rich delicacy that is tangy, spicy, refreshingly sour, stomach-soothing, thirst-quenching, and helps ward off the summer heat while strengthening the body—cold dressed acidic ant eggs. The acidic ants are slender yellow ants found in tropical jungles. The adults have a relatively strong sour flavor and often build round nests several times larger than melons on bamboo clusters and tree forks. In late spring to early summer, most of the nests contain ant eggs about the size of soybeans, pearly white. To prepare them, the nests are harvested, impurities and adult ants are removed, then the eggs are boiled and mixed with salt, chili, chopped shallots, and mashed raw garlic before serving. Acidic ant eggs are the smallest and most aromatic eggs in the world, rich in protein, and commonly served by the Dai people of Menglian to entertain relatives and friends—a taste that lingers long after the meal.