Why are people so worried about bats? Well, do you like strawberries, mangoes, almonds, carrots, bananas, oranges, sunflower seeds, cashews, or avocadoes? Do you like chocolate? Bats help farmers, growers and harvesters bring these foods to your supermarket. Really!
- Bats protect our foods from insects by eating thousands of bugs each night
- They help pollinate plants when they move from flower to flower, lapping up nectar
- Fruit-eating bats help spread seeds by either spitting them out or pooping them out
This week, celebrate bats with a tasty treat made of foods that rely on bats for their growth or protection. Here are a couple of recipes to get you started (spoiler alert: there are no bats in these recipes):
Cave Mix
1 ½ cup of nuts like almonds, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, peanuts
1 cup of seeds like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
1 cup of unsweetened dried fruit, like cherries, banana chips, cranberries
½ cup of chocolate bits like M&Ms
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Store in sealed container.
Fruit Bat Smoothie
2 cups of fruit – try pieces of papaya, mango, frozen banana, and frozen berries
½ cup Greek yogurt
½ cup almond milk
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
Juice of one orange
Juice of ½ lime
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and serve.
Bat Pie
1 frozen pie shell
1 package instant chocolate pudding
2 ripe bananas, sliced
1 can spray whipping cream
1 chocolate bar and ½ cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 425 F and bake pie shell 10 – 12 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Prepare pudding according to package instructions. Spread half the pudding in the cooled pie shell. Add a layer of sliced bananas. Top with remaining pudding and bananas. Cover the top with whipping cream.
Decorate with chopped pecans and, using a grater, shave the chocolate bar and sprinkle on top. Serve immediately.
Check out this cool video from National Geographic, Bats Eat Bugs So You Don’t Have To
