Sparky's cicada ice cream run ends before it began

This one and only half-batch of cicada ice cream sold out within an hour after Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream made it available to customers Wednesday night. Sparky's was advised by the City of Columbia Health Department to discontinue making future batches of the ice cream.   ¦  Andrew Feiler

COLUMBIA — Those looking to taste the seasonal flavor of cicada ice cream at Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream will no longer have an opportunity to do so.

Sparky's approached the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services and asked about the use of cicadas in the ice cream, Gerry Worley, environmental health manager for the department, said.

"The food code doesn't directly address cicadas," Worley said. "We advised against it."

Sparky's introduced the cicada ice cream last week and met with such surprising demand that it sold out the day before it was set to debut. The store was going to make another batch for the weekend, but a sign on the door told customers it would not be back until 2024.

When making the first half batch of ice cream, the cicadas were boiled and fully cooked through, Sparky's manager Ashley Nagel said. Food code does not address how cicadas should be cooked.

"The food code tells us how high the temperature should be," Worley said of normally cooked foods such as fish, chicken and beef. The department does not have that information for cicadas.