Every few years, Missouri is invaded by cicadas- an insect with large eyes and wings. Just days ago, an ice-cream shop owner decided to have some fun with the plethora of insects and made cicada ice cream.

Word spread around town of Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream Shop the night before the ice cream debuted, and the next morning within hours they were sold out of cicada ice cream.

The owners were not expecting such a response and told late customers to come back tomorrow. However, the Columbia County Department of Public Health advised the ice cream store that using cicadas is not addressed in the agency’s food code and advised them not to use the insect as an ingredient.

The employees collected the insects in their backyard, removed most of the dead cicadas’ wings and boiled them in brown sugar and chocolate milk. Columbia’s health department advised the shop parlor to not use cicada and are suggesting the guidelines don’t address proper cooking temperatures.

Though it was a big hit, Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream Shop stopped making the ice cream. But there are enough cicadas around to make your own ice cream at home.