Bat Squad For the young conservartionist

Create a Tasty Meal with Help from Bats

Try these delicious recipes for a taste of foods that bats help pollinate
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few years ago, Bat Week partners, including Bat Conservation International (BCI), put together the Celebrating Bats Cookbook, featuring recipes that use “bat-dependent foods.” Now, even more bat-dependent recipes are up on the Bat Week website to enjoy, celebrating cuisine from South, Central, and North America.

Learn how bats help prepare each meal, whether by pollinating, dispersing seeds, or gobbling up the pests that eat the crops. Make these fun recipes with your family—kids should always have a parent’s help. Follow the links above to learn more about these recipes and to find other recipe options.

binoculars graphic
See the original Celebrating Bats Cookbook: batweek.org/CelebratingBatsCookbook

Check out the latest recipes: batweek.org/cookbook

A

few years ago, Bat Week partners, including Bat Conservation International (BCI), put together the Celebrating Bats Cookbook, featuring recipes that use “bat-dependent foods.” Now, even more bat-dependent recipes are up on the Bat Week website to enjoy, celebrating cuisine from South, Central, and North America.

Learn how bats help prepare each meal, whether by pollinating, dispersing seeds, or gobbling up the pests that eat the crops. Make these fun recipes with your family—kids should always have a parent’s help. Follow the links above to learn more about these recipes and to find other recipe options.

binoculars graphic
See the original Celebrating Bats Cookbook: batweek.org/CelebratingBatsCookbook

Check out the latest recipes: batweek.org/cookbook

Avocado Chocolate Pudding; top view of a bowl of Avocado Chocolate Pudding garnished with strawberry slices

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

Submitted by Helen Cavallo
Country of Origin: United States

Ingredients
1
large ripe avocado (bat-pollinated)
1/2
cup coconut (bat-pollinated) milk
12
oz bittersweet chocolate/dark chocolate (bats spread cacao seeds)
1
tsp vanilla
1
tsp agave (bat-pollinated)
4
fresh berries (bat-protected) as garnish (optional)
Directions
  1. Over medium heat, set up a double boiler, or place a heat-proof bowl with chocolate and coconut milk over a pot of water. Allow the chocolate to melt into the milk, then let this mixture cool.

Alternative method: Microwave the chocolate and coconut mixture until everything is melted but not boiling (approximately 30 seconds to one minute).

  1. Place pitted and skinned avocado into a food processor. Add all ingredients and pulse until creamy.
  2. Top with a few berries for a garnish if you’d like. Enjoy!
top view of Pizza Artibeus

Pizza Artibeus

Submitted by Zuemy Vallado Negroe
Country of Origin: Mexico (Yucatán)

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce:

5
red, crushed tomatoes (bat-protected)
1/2
chili pepper [Capsicum annuum] (bat-protected)
3
cloves of crushed garlic
1
red onion, cut into small chunks Oregano, salt, pepper, basil—season to taste
1/2
Tbsp of sugar
1
guayaba (bat-pollinated)
2
tsp vegetable oil

Toppings: red onion, sweet peppers, tomato slices, mozzarella cheese

Directions
  1. Oil a saucepan and add the tomatoes, chili pepper, garlic, onion, sugar, and guayaba. Cook and stir on low heat until the ingredients are mixed. Add seasonings to taste and cook for 30 minutes. With a mixer or blender, mix salsa until it becomes a fine puree.
For the dough
4
cups breadnut or Ramon (Brosimum alicastrum) flour
1 1/2
cups wheat flour
1 1/2
Tbsp yeast
4
Tbsp butter
1 1/2
Tbsp sugar
2 1/2
tsp salt
2 1/2
tsp garlic powder
2 1/2
tsp oregano
1
cup lukewarm water
  1. Mix all the dough ingredients together. Dust a clean, flat surface with flour and start to form the dough. Grease a glass bowl with vegetable oil and put the dough in it to rest for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, punch the dough lightly and set it aside to make the pizza.
  2. Rub butter onto a medium metal pan and flatten dough onto it to form the base of the pizza. Spread tomato sauce, red onion, sweet peppers, tomato slices, and mozzarella cheese. Bake pizza at 325° F for approximately 25 minutes.
“This recipe is inspired by observations from the home of a great fruit-eating bat (Artibeus lituratus) during the pandemic quarantine. We noted the presence of a bat perched in the mornings on our back terrace and eating at night on the balcony of our home. We named the bat Pancho. It ate around 15,000 seeds between April 2020 and April 2021, which included Ramon/Breadnut, huaya or guayas, guayaba, ciricote, and almonds, among others.”
—Zuemy Vallado Negroe
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