The Best of JB & Crew on Austin 360 Radio Podcast

The Best of JB & Crew on Austin 360 Radio Podcast

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The Best of JB & Crew on Austin 360 Radio Podcast episodes

  • Joe Gross with details on Mathew Mcconaughey becoming a professor at UT

    The University of Texas has a new professor with a familiar face: Matthew McConaughey.

    The Moody College of Communication announced Wednesday that McConaughey has been appointed as a professor of practice to the Department of Radio-Television-Film faculty, starting this fall term. The actor and Austin icon has served as a visiting instructor since 2015, when he began co-teaching the “Script to Screen” film production class with faculty member and director Scott Rice.

    The man who gifted the world with the catchphrase “alright, alright, alright” in 1993 film “Dazed and Confused” developed the UT course’s curriculum, which provides a “behind-the-scenes view of each stage of a film’s production,” according to the university.

    » RELATED: Be a lot cooler if you did: The 5 most ′Matthew McConaughey’ Matthew McConaughey performances

    McConaughey earned a film degree from UT in 1993. He picked up an Academy Award for his role in 2013 film “Dallas Buyers Club.” According to the university, he has appeared in more than 50 films; some memorable credits include “A Time to Kill” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” He starred in this year’s “The Beach Bum,” which premiered at South by Southwest in March. McConaughey also turned in a tour de force performance in HBO TV series “True Detective.”

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    14 min
  • Ken Herman on Cedric Benson being buried in the Texas State Cemetery

    How you feel about Cedric Benson being buried at the Texas State Cemetery with Stephen F. Austin, 14 Texas governors and four Medal of Honor recipients probably is directly related to how you feel about sports.

    I’m going to shirk my constitutional duty as a columnist to tell you what to think about this. I’ll offer some data and encourage you to think about it.

    RELATED: Texas teammates, family celebrate Cedric Benson’s ‘unbelievable confidence’ during funeral

    Let’s be clear that I categorize myself as a big sports fan who sometimes has twinges and pangs about how big sports has become in our society. Things and people spark those twinges and pangs. Things like point spreads on NFL preseason games. People like Indianapolis Colts fans who booed Colts quarterback Andrew Luck as he left the field Saturday night after word spread that he was retiring.

    So do sports figures belong in the Texas State Cemetery? It’s a hallowed ground that proudly and properly bills itself as “the final resting place of governors, senators, legislators, congressmen, judges and other legendary Texans who have made the state what it is today.”

    Here’s what one reader asked: “So, how does being a football star qualify someone to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery?”

    The reader asked for anonymity because “Football is the No. 1 religion in Texas and the U.S. and, as a retired minister, I wouldn’t want to appear to be anti-religious. I do wonder, however, why being a football star entitles someone to burial with former governors and other state big-wigs?”

    The rules for qualifying for the honor of State Cemetery burial are simple, though not without a subjective component. Automatic eligibility goes to legislators, elected state officials and appointed state officials who won Senate confirmation and served at least 10 years in office. People also can get in via gubernatorial proclamation or legislative resolution OK’d by the three-member, gubernatorially appointed cemetery committee, now chaired by Benjamin Hanson of Austin.

    The committee also can approve people for Texas State Cemetery burial, the rules say, if it “finds that the person made a significant contribution to Texas history and culture in the following fields: air and space, agriculture, art and design, business and labor, city building, education, governmental service, industry, justice, military affairs, law enforcement, oil and gas, performing arts, philanthropy, public administration, ranching, religion, science and medicine, sports and writing.”

    It’s a statement broad enough to allow for consideration of a variety of worthy Texans. Benson’s significant contribution to Texas history and culture? He was the star running back on a Midland Lee High School team that won three state titles, he had four years at the University of Texas that made him the school’s second-leading, all-time ground gainer, and he spent eight years in the NFL.

    Again, I’ll let you decide if you think his too-short life of 36 years qualified him for the Texas State Cemetery. There’s no need to delve here into his brushes with the law. Benson was buried Monday near other sports figures and the small temporary marker where former UT President Bill Powers recently was interred.

    Also buried near Benson are James Street, quarterback of the 1969 UT national champs and an All-America baseball pitcher, and Johnny “Lam” Jones, who in addition to his UT football career was a gold medalist at the 1976 Olympics on the 400-meter relay team. Former UT football Coach Darrell Royal and former UT baseball Coach Augie Garrido also are buried near Benson. There’s also former longtime Major League Baseball player and manager Don Baylor and Willie Wells, a Negro Leagues baseball star.

    Sports-related, there’s also Wally Pryor, whose headstone calls him “The Voice of the University of Texas Longhorns.” The cemetery has a monument for Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, but he’s buried in Dallas.

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    The cemetery committee also handles advance requests for burial plots. The list of those precleared has several sports figures, including longtime sportscaster Verne Lundquist, golfer Ben Crenshaw, former UT women’s hoops coach Jody Conradt, former UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds, former longtime UT sports information director Bill Little and former Texas A&M University football coach and Regent Gene Stallings. My apologies if I’ve missed others.

    (Lundquist is among those who’ve had a headstone placed while still alive to enjoy it. His includes some of his memorable calls, including “Yes sir!” when Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters.)

    A few other names you might recognize on the cemetery’s precleared list: Larry Gatlin, Ken Starr, Karl Rove, Jerry Jeff Walker and Dan Rather.

    Rather is not the only journalist who has passed cemetery committee muster. Already interred in the Texas State Cemetery are longtime Capitol correspondents Bo Byers of the Houston Chronicle and Jack Keever of the Associated Press.

    Living journalists on the precleared list include Dave Montgomery of Austin and former American-Statesman cartoonist Ben Sargent and his wife, Diane Holloway, this paper’s former TV beat reporter. Both, appropriately, have reservations in the cemetery Statesman’s Meadow section, which probably is not named for my favorite local daily newspaper.

    Sargent is a Pulitzer Prize winner, as is local author Lawrence Wright, who’s on the cemetery’s precleared list. Ken Towery, who won a 1956 Pulitzer for the Cuero Daily Record, was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in 2016.

    Sargent told me he didn’t inquire about it “until I retired from the active-journalist ranks.” He said state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, “helped me through the process, which at one point stalled for several years because the people on the pertinent committee were not fans of my work.”

    Many of you will recall that Sargent made a habit and career out of drawing pointed little pictures about politicians. When opposition to allowing him in came up, Sargent recalls asking Watson, “Really? About a quarter of the guys out there were engaged in an illegal, unconstitutional armed insurrection against the United States, and I’m not good enough to get in?”

    “But patience prevailed, and this is one thing we can check off the list,” Sargent told me.

    There are 1,816 Confederate veterans buried in the State Cemetery.

    Montgomery, who now freelances for The New York Times and other publications, told me he and wife, Linda, applied so they can be buried near her parents, Kyle and Vivian Thompson. Kyle Thompson was a longtime Texas journalist and press secretary. More significantly, during World War II he was part of the “Lost Battalion” captured by the Japanese and held for 42 months.

    The Cemetery Committee also has approved former Texas Monthly Publisher Mike Levy, who I watched laid to rest in the State Cemetery in 2016. Oh, he’s still quite alive. But, because he’s Levy, he graciously (and enthusiastically) agreed to pose, prone, in front of his headstone so I could shoot a photo. He looked good there.

    Did Benson deserve the honor of burial in the Texas State Cemetery? It’s a judgment call. Hanson, the committee chairman, told me Tuesday he, as part of what he sees as the responsibility to let Texans know of potential State Cemetery burial availability, contacted Benson’s family. After the family expressed interest, Hanson said, the committee, in a decision that will have to be ratified in a formal meeting, unanimously decided on Aug. 20 that Benson qualified. Jackqueline Benson, the late football star’s mom, now also is approved for State Cemetery burial.

    Like all three committee members, Hanson is a UT alum, though he says he grew up as an Oklahoma University fan. Hanson cited Benson’s contributions both in sports and philanthropy, mentioning Benson’s foundation’s efforts in repairing the home of a victim of the 2018 bombings in Austin.

    Is Hanson worried that we don’t yet know all the circumstances of Benson’s death? Hanson said the decision was based on broader criteria, not just “what caused the death or the demons he had to deal with.”

    “You look at the full history of the man,” he said.

    Larvin Jefferson agrees. I ran into the Huston-Tillotson University worker Monday at the cemetery a few hours after the private burial service for Benson.

    “He was a good example to many people,” Jefferson, 56, told me as we stood at the flower-covered grave. “Sad that he had to go, yeah. But we all have to accept that, that sacrifice. Part of the sacrifice is giving up the earthly life and going back where we came from.”

    And Jefferson wondered aloud about the high points in Benson’s life. Jefferson is a sports fan. “If I could just come out of that tunnel wearing an orange and white jersey,” he said. “That would make my day.”

    “Unfortunately,” Jefferson said, “on that Saturday night when he went out, he didn’t know what was around the corner.”

    We both agreed none of us ever do.

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    15 min
  • With tailgating season ahead, here's the scoop on Franklin BBQ's new pits

    Franklin Barbecue owners Aaron and Stacy Franklin are serious about helping home cooks make better barbecue. (And steaks.)

    After two cookbooks, the Franklins are now launching a line of barbecue pits that will go on sale this fall. The East Austin restaurant released a photo on Monday of what they say is the last prototype before the pit goes into production in coming weeks.

    The off-set smoker will be made in Austin and constructed with 1/4-inch steel, but they haven’t said how much it will cost or will it will officially go on sale. You can sign up for updates through franklinbbqpits.com, but if you want a chance to buy the pit in the photo, you can bid on it through the Les Dames de Escoffier, which is hosting an event called You Grill Girl on Sept. 5 at Franklin Barbecue.

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    16 min
  • Food writer Addie Broyles on making ceviche at home

    Entertainment & LifeGot fresh fish? A guide to making ceviche, aguachile at home Most Popular

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    OUR PICKSPreviousGet Closer with ThriveHiveListen to the Weird Homes PodcastSouthern KitchenExperience Happenings Through Our Photo GalleryThe latest in entertainmentGet Closer with ThriveHiveListen to the Weird Homes PodcastSouthern KitchenExperience Happenings Through Our Photo GalleryThe latest in entertainmentGet Closer with ThriveHiveNextPreviousHIDE CAPTIONWhen making ceviche at home, use the freshest fish you can find and let it marinate in the lime juice mixture for as long as you like. The longer it sits in the marinade, the more “cooked” it will taste, even though the lime juice isn’t really cooking the fish, shrimp or seafood. Aguachile is a cevichelike dish found in many coastal areas of Mexico and plenty of cevicherias in Austin, too. This version is made with soy sauce, lime juice and sesame oil, with red onions and cucumbers. [Addie Broyles/American-Statesman]HIDE CAPTIONIn Playa del Carmen, Mexico, you’ll find restaurants serving ceviche in all kinds of styles, including this mix of six kinds of fish and seafood that was served in a molcajete, a traditional style of mortar. [Addie Broyles/American-Statesman]HIDE CAPTIONWhen making ceviche at home, use the freshest fish you can find and let it marinate in the lime juice mixture for as long as you like. The longer it sits in the marinade, the more “cooked” it will taste, even though the lime juice isn’t really cooking the fish, shrimp or seafood. HIDE CAPTIONAguachile is a cevichelike dish found in many coastal areas of Mexico and plenty of cevicherias in Austin, too. This version is made with soy sauce, lime juice and sesame oil, with red onions and cucumbers. [Addie Broyles/American-Statesman]HIDE CAPTIONIn Playa del Carmen, Mexico, you’ll find restaurants serving ceviche in all kinds of styles, including this mix of six kinds of fish and seafood that was served in a molcajete, a traditional style of mortar. [Addie Broyles/American-Statesman]HIDE CAPTIONWhen making ceviche at home, use the freshest fish you can find and let it marinate in the lime juice mixture for as long as you like. The longer it sits in the marinade, the more “cooked” it will taste, even though the lime juice isn’t really cooking the fish, shrimp or seafood. [Addie Broyles/American-Statesman]NextBy Addie Broyles 
    Posted Aug 27, 2019 at 9:36 AMUpdated Aug 27, 2019 at 9:50 AM   

    There’s no better time to try making ceviche at home than when it’s the dead of summer, that lovely season when it’s too hot and dry to grill, ERCOT sends out alerts to reduce energy consumption at 4 p.m. and it still doesn’t get dark until after 8.

    In an attempt to escape the Texas heat, I headed to Playa del Carmen a few weeks ago for one last vacation before the school year began. I expected to find plenty of fish dishes, but I didn’t expect to find restaurants serving ceviche, aguachiles and cocteles by the kilo.

    We ate these no-cook fish dishes nearly every day of the trip, some barely soaked in lime juice and served in a giant molcajete and others served on a shallow plate and in a spicier marinade.

    The kinds of ceviches in the Yucatán are only a slice of what’s served throughout Central and Latin America, where you’ll find endless mixtures of fish (and shellfish, octopus and other seafoods) “cooked” in citrus juice and tossed with other ingredients, from the Peruvian tiradito to the ketchup-based campechana from the Mexican state of Campeche.

    “And I like them all,” says Fonda San Miguel executive chef Caesar Ortiz.

    Ortiz grew up eating ceviche in El Paso that tastes a lot like the ceviche he serves at Fonda San Miguel, the venerable Austin restaurant that opened in 1976: a traditional mix of tomatoes, jalapenos or serranos, cilantro, lime juice and chopped fish, usually drum.

    It wasn’t until he went to San Antonio during the summers to stay with his aunt and uncle that he started trying different varieties, including campechana: a mix of shrimp, fish and oysters served in a liquid made with lime juice, clam juice, oyster juice and ketchup.

    Then, a family trip to Mazatlán for Thanksgiving when he was in high school introduced him to aguachile, the freshest of the ceviches that is popular in Sinaloa and other coastal regions of Mexico.

    RELATED: Austin360Eats: The Best Mexican Restaurants in Austin

    “We went deep-sea fishing with my grandfather and uncles and had right-out-of-the-ocean butchered fish mixed with lime juice and chiles,” he says. “It was a truly raw preparation with acid, salt and heat, and that’s when I realized that I like this much better than anything else.”

    To this day, Ortiz prefers a lightly cured ceviche, especially an aguachile, over sushi or poke, the Hawaiian raw fish dish that has become popular in the continental U.S. in recent years.

    “That’s the beauty of ceviche,” he says. “If you have access to super fresh seafood, you can simply chop it up and squeeze lime juice on it and eat it instantly.”

    RELATED: The emotional moment Diana Kennedy donated rare cookbooks to UTSA

    Peruvian-style ceviche is one of the less-cooked styles, and it’s usually served with leche de tigre, or a mix of pureed aji amarillo with lime juice and maybe some lemon juice or clam juice.

    In many regions of Central and Latin America, you’ll find dishes that were influenced by Japanese and Chinese cooks who moved to the region for jobs or to avoid wars. That’s why many aguachiles have soy sauce or sesame oil and why the Peruvian tiradito often includes wasabi or pepper puree.

    The fish, shrimp and shellfish dishes with tomato-based sauces have traditionally been used to cure hangovers, not unlike a bloody mary or a michelada, and some cevicherias will serve a coctel with beer, lime juice, ketchup and Clamato in a salt-and-shrimp-rimmed glass. (One regional specialty from Veracruz is called Vuelve a la Vida, or “return to life.”)

    Ortiz says that when you’re making ceviche at home, start with the freshest fish you can find, from snapper or drum to flounder, salmon or tuna. Because the citrus juice doesn’t technically cook the seafood, make sure you’re using sushi grade, and don’t use freshwater fish, such as tilapia or catfish. To prepare the fish, all you have to do is remove the skin and cut the fish into small cubes or thin slices. Some cooks like to salt the fish, shrimp or scallops first to season the meat before tossing in the marinade.

    Shrimp is also a good choice, but avoid the previously frozen ones that have already been soaked in salt water. You can also use squid or octopus, but skip the scallops that are sold in a milky liquid; dry-packed scallops are more expensive, but they aren’t treated with chemicals or a brine.

    For the marinade, use freshly squeezed lime juice for the majority of the liquid, but you can also add a little lemon or orange juice for sweetness. Some regional variations call for a little olive oil or vinegar, but don’t use balsamic or another concentrated vinegar. Aguachile means “chile water,” and to achieve the desired spiciness, you can soak the seafood mixture with sliced chiles or you could crush the chiles with lime juice and a little water in a molcajete or a mortar and pestle to add to the marinade.

    Once you combine the seafood and the marinade, refrigerate the mixture for just a few minutes or up to several hours, depending on how “cooked” or cured you prefer the dish.

    Inspired by some of the restaurants we enjoyed in the Yucatan, I’ve been adding avocado and cucumber to the ceviches I’ve tried making at home, including an aguachile made with tuna, sesame oil and soy sauce. Almost every restaurant we went to in Playa del Carmen served ceviche with homemade totopos, or corn tortilla chips that were as thick as tostadas. A thicker chip is better, but in many places, it’s customary to serve ceviches, coctels and the like with saltine crackers.

    Oddly, that’s what was always served with the shrimp cocktails I grew up eating, even though we were so far from the ceviches of El Paso and Juarez that were familiar to Ortiz.

    “That’s what makes ceviche so great,” he says. “There are just so many ways to make it.”

    Ceviche

    Don’t use freshwater fish for ceviche, including tilapia or catfish. Everything else is up to you, just make sure the seafood is fresh. I like to add avocados and cucumbers, and you can use a store-bought pico de gallo.

    — Addie Broyles

    1 pound mix of white fish, tuna, salmon, shrimp, scallops or octopus, cut into small-to-medium cubes

    1/2 cup fresh lime juice

    2 tablespoons lemon juice

    1/2 cup sliced cucumber (optional)

    1/2 avocado, cubed (optional)

    1/2 cup cubed tomatoes

    1/4 cup diced or sliced white or red onion

    1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

    Salt, to taste

    Chips or tostadas, for serving

    Mix the seafood with the lime and lemon juice in a nonreactive bowl. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or up to two hours. Add the cucumber and avocado, if using, tomatoes, onion and cilantro. Season to taste with salt. Let sit for another 15 minutes and then serve with the chips or tostadas.

    — Addie Broyles

    Scallop Aquachile With Tomato-Habanero Water and Gooseberries

    Aguachile is a ceviche traditionally made in the Mexican state of Sinaloa with fresh raw shrimp, cucumber, red onion, lime juice and chiles, and it’s a great summer dish to enjoy with a cold beer and a wedge of lime. It isn’t exactly a Tex-Mex dish, but my family made a version of it: We would take the liquid from a bowl of pico de gallo and pour it over raw shrimp. At Bar Amá, we make with it with scallops during tomato season. The kitchen makes tomato water from fresh tomatoes and habanero chiles and pours that and lime juice over raw scallops, pickled gooseberries, cucumbers and shallots. Aguachile is traditionally served immediately, without marinating, but if you want the acid in the lime juice and vinegar to slightly “cook” the seafood, you can marinate it for a bit. Pineapple and banana vinegars are available at some gourmet shops and online, such as at the Rancho Gordo website. We serve this dish with pickled gooseberries, which can be hard to find in some places. Just leave them out if you can’t easily find them.

    — Josef Centeno

    For tomato-habanero water:

    1 pound cherry tomatoes

    1 shallot, chopped

    1 large garlic clove

    1 habanero chile, stemmed and seeded

    1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

    10 fresh basil leaves

    3 tablespoons pineapple vinegar or distilled white vinegar

    1 tablespoon fine sea salt

    12 ounces sea scallops (about 12), side muscle removed

    2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

    1/2 lemon cucumber, thinly sliced

    12 pickled gooseberries (recipe follows), halved (optional)

    1 shallot, thinly sliced into rings

    1 serrano or jalapeño, stemmed, thinly sliced into rings, and seeded

    Finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

    Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

    Flaky sea salt and fresh black pepper

    Line a fine-mesh sieve with cheesecloth and set it over a large bowl. Make the tomato-habanero water: Combine the tomatoes, shallot, garlic, habanero, cilantro, basil, vinegar and fine sea salt in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Transfer the mixture to the prepared sieve. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 4. (Do not stir or press on the solids, or the tomato water will be cloudy.) Discard the solids, cover the tomato water and refrigerate until ready to use.

    Cut each scallop crosswise into thirds so that you have three thin, round slices. Put the scallops in a medium bowl and pour over the lime juice and tomato water. Serve immediately, or if you wish, marinate the scallops for 1 to 3 hours in the refrigerator.

    To serve, divide the scallops and the juice and tomato water among 4 to 6 shallow bowls. Add the cucumber, and arrange the scallop and cucumber slices attractively. Top with the pickled gooseberry halves, if using, shallot and chile. Garnish with cilantro leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. Season with flaky sea salt and a grind of fresh black pepper and serve. Serves 4 to 6.

    Pickled Gooseberries

    Found at farmers markets and in sunny backyards, Cape gooseberries have a sweet-tart flavor, which tastes like a combination of cherry tomato, pineapple, mango and Meyer lemon. Like tomatillos, they have a husk you have to remove before using. They’re a good match with pickling spices — here, a little coriander, star anise, allspice and pepper. And the pickling process really works its magic on the gooseberries, rounding out their tartness. Add these as a puckery condiment to salads, ceviches, and roasted and grilled meats — anything that could use a little fruity acidity.

    — Josef Centeno

    1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds

    3 whole allspice

    1 star anise

    1 teaspoon black peppercorns

    1/3 cup Champagne vinegar

    1/3 cup water

    1/3 cup sugar

    A few fresh cilantro leaves

    Pinch of fine sea salt

    2 cups gooseberries, husked and halved

    In a small, dry skillet, toast the coriander, allspice, star anise and black peppercorns over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they begin to release their oils and are fragrant, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

    Combine the vinegar, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the spices and set the mixture aside to cool to room temperature.

    Put the halved gooseberries in a container. When the vinegar mixture is cool, pour it over the gooseberries. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using. Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Makes 4 cups.

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    16 min
  • Bob Sechler on Aspire Food Group edible crickets

    It turns out Texans have a big appetite for bugs.

    Beginning this fall, up to 100 H-E-B grocery stores will designate shelf space for cricket-based crispy snacks and protein bars made by Austin-based Aspire Food Group, on the heels of a test of demand for them that the grocer initiated in February using temporary display cases.

    “The anticipation was that these things would sell out in about a month or six weeks, and they did that in half that time” and prompted multiple reorders, said Yvan Cournoyer, H-E-B’s business development manager. “The test proved very successful.”

    Cournoyer described the snacks and protein bars -- which Aspire sells under the brand name “Exo” in flavors such as nutty chocolate chip and Texas barbecue -- as still “a niche for sure.” But he said they logged an impressive rate of repeat purchases from customers who tried them during the test, demonstrating the potential to grow in popularity.

    They’ll be stocked on permanent H-E-B shelves by early November, most likely in the healthy-living departments of the grocery stores that will carry them, Cournoyer said. More than half of the stores are in Austin and the surrounding metro area, although some also are in Houston and San Antonio.

    The move marks a major development for Aspire, as well as for the fledgling U.S. edible insect movement overall. Insects are standard human fare in many countries worldwide but constitute only a tiny slice of food purchases in the United States, where sales have come predominantly through specialty restaurants and small retail shops catering to people with specific cultural backgrounds or ethical concerns, rather than through large, general-purpose grocery chains.

    “If you can succeed in a conventional grocer, that is a big deal,” said Mohammed Ashour, co-founder and chief executive of Aspire, which up until now has been generating most of its sales online. “This is huge for us.”

    Neither Cournoyer nor Ashour disclosed the size of H-E-B’s planned orders as the San Antonio-based grocer gears up to stock them on permanent shelves. H-E-B spent $50,000 when it initiated the sales test in February, and Cournoyer said it ended up at least doubling that on subsequent reorders, although he declined to release a precise figure.

    Aspire, a five-year-old startup, is in the midst of a fund-raising round that it expects to close by the beginning of October, with the aim of using the money to build a commercial-scale indoor cricket farm. The company currently operates what it considers a prototype indoor farm in a 25,000-square-foot warehouse a few miles from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, where it can harvest about 100,000 pounds of crickets a year -- or 100 million individual crickets -- at peak capacity.

    The commercial-scale facility will be capable of producing more than 50 times the amount of crickets as the current operation, according to the company. It is considering building the commercial indoor farm in Austin, Ashour said, although he noted that two other locations that he declined to name also are in the running.

    Advocates of insect consumption herald crickets as nutritious and able to be produced in large quantities with fewer harmful emissions and with much smaller amounts of land, water and other resources than identical weights of conventional animal protein, such as beef, pork or chicken.

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    12 min

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