Everyone loves eggs! But out here in Isan, we take it to a whole different level. The absolute holy grail of local delicacies is Red Ant Eggs (ไข่มดแดง)
Now, red ants are either the ultimate curse of Thailand or its most unique feature, depending on how you look at it. These bastards are everywhere—literally anywhere there's a patch of green. They are weaver ants, known in Thai simply as Mod Daeng (มดแดง).
Unlike normal ants, these psychos don't build nests on the ground. Instead, they live up in the tree branches, stitching leaves together into spherical, football-sized nests using the silk produced by their own larvae. They love setting up camp in fruit trees like mango, lime, pomelo, and guava. They don’t look down on acacia either, and they even manage to survive high up on coconut palms. They are omnivorous, brutally aggressive when defending their turf, and their bites hurt like absolute hell. If your skin isn't used to them, you’ll end up with nasty, swollen blisters that can easily get infected.
But man, those eggs... They are packed with pure protein and a unique sour flavour. Because of that, they fetch a high price. Collecting them is a certified form of psychological and physical torture. Every single time we go hunting for ant eggs, I spend the next week itching like crazy and walking around swollen like I got jumped by a swarm of bees.
Since our village is buried right in the jungle, we are surrounded by prime hunting grounds. After walking about a kilometre into the brush, we reached a grove filled with trees infested by these little terrors.
Before you even attempt this, wrap yourself up as tightly as humanly possible. You want zero bare skin exposed to these monsters.
To harvest them, you need some very specific, low-tech gear:
A massive, heavy bamboo pole about 5 to 6 meters long.
A cone-shaped cloth bag is tied securely near the top tip of the pole.
A bucket filled with clean water.
Essential: A cold beer or a flask of local moonshine (Lao Khao) to act as an internal anaesthetic. Trust me, you'll need it.
The process looks simple from a distance, but in reality, it’s backbreaking, agonising labour. The bamboo pole is incredibly heavy, and because of its extreme length, balancing it while looking straight up into the sun is a total nightmare.
The locals have mastered this art through generations; I saw a little village girl juggling the pole with effortless grace, while I could barely keep the damn thing upright.
The trick is that the bag isn't tied at the absolute tip; the bare end of the pole extends past the bag by a foot or two. You hoist the pole up into the branches, shove that sharp wooden tip directly through the ant nest, and violently shake it. The nest rips open, and a chaotic waterfall of furious ants and thousands of white eggs drops straight down into the cone bag.
The catch? Not every nest actually has eggs inside. You can spend hours exhausting yourself, roasting under the brutal Thai heat, tearing up dozens of nests, and coming up completely empty-handed.
Once the bag is buzzing with angry ants, you quickly dump the entire contents into your bucket of water. This is where the magic happens: the water instantly deactivates the ants' aggressive instincts. They stop biting entirely, though they don't actually drown right away.
Because they become totally docile in the water, you can actually sort through the harvest with your bare hands without getting stung.
📸 [MAIN PHOTO PLACEHOLDER] Look at that—my own bare hand holding the freshly harvested white gold we spent the morning fighting for.
If you only want the eggs, you carefully skim the ants off the top and toss them back into the brush. Once they dry off in the sun, they just continue living their chaotic little lives.
Back at the house, we thoroughly clean the harvest. We pick out the twigs, leaves, and dirt, wash the eggs through a large sieve, and pack them into bags. They are either heading to the local market for a premium price or going straight into some killer local dishes (which I’ll break down in a future post).
📸 [3RD RIGHT PHOTO: QUEEN ANT] Check this out: this is the massive, winged ant queen. These are highly prized and used to make the classic, legendary Isan salad called Miang Mod Daeng (เมี่ยงมดแดง).
The hunt was a massive success, but the jungle always keeps giving. On our march back to the village, we did some casual foraging along the path.
📸 [PHOTO: TAM LUENG PA] We managed to score some Tam Lueng Pa (ตำลึงป่า)—a type of wild ivy gourd that looks like a miniature wild pumpkin. When they ripen into a bright orange color, you can pluck them and eat them straight off the bush. The local Thai girls, especially here in the Isan countryside, absolutely love these sweet little treats, so we gathered a nice handful to bring home.
Now, the harvest is sitting in the kitchen, the gear is put away, and it’s finally time to crack open a couple of ice-cold beers, kick back, and let the swelling go down.
That's how we live here in Thailand! 🍻🐜
#isan #thailand #nature #food #exoticfood #travel #adventure #life #proofofbrain
