The harvesters do not swat or chase. Instead, they gently gather . Using soft brooms or even their hands, they sweep the teeming queens into buckets, sacks, or calabash bowls. The sound is distinctive: a soft, persistent pattering like rain on leaves, as hundreds of queens drop from the low vegetation or stumble across the tarps. A good morning’s harvest might yield five, ten, even twenty kilograms of live, squirming queens.
Hormigas Culonas are large, winged queen leaf-cutter ants, commonly known in the area as hormiga culona or arriera . The species, Atta laevigata , is found throughout the Americas, but the practice of consuming them is deeply ingrained in Santander culture.
En algunas culturas, las hormigas culonas se han utilizado en la medicina tradicional para tratar diversas afecciones, como la fiebre, la tos y la inflamación. También se han utilizado como insecticidas naturales y para controlar plagas.
In some Latin American countries, Hormigas Culonas are considered a delicacy and are consumed as a traditional food source. In Colombia, for example, they are often roasted or fried and served as a snack. hormigas culonas
Hormigas Culonas are large ants, with workers ranging from 1 to 2 cm in length. They are characterized by their distinctive behavior of cutting and collecting leaves, which they use to cultivate a specialized fungus for food. This fungus, Leucangium birsutum , is the primary food source for the ants and is grown in underground gardens.
The hormiga culona is more than a snack. It is a living archive of a landscape, a season, and a people. In its toasted shell, you taste the clay of the Andean hills, the first fat raindrops of March, the smoke of a fogón (hearth), and the collective memory of the Guane who first dared to pick up a queen and put her in her mouth.
The method is deceptively simple. Culanderos (ant harvesters) lay large, clean white plastic sheets or tarps on the forest floor, often near the entrance of mature ant colonies. Sometimes, they simply sweep the bare earth. Then, they wait. When the atmospheric conditions trigger the nuptial flight, the queens emerge from the nest. They are clumsy, reluctant fliers—their massive abdomens making aerodynamics a challenge. They run and flutter, attempting to launch themselves. The harvesters do not swat or chase
Hormigas Culonas: Colombia's Crunchy, Nutty Culinary Treasure
These nutritious properties make them a sustainable snack, especially in the context of increasing global food demands.
Las hormigas culonas juegan un papel importante en los ecosistemas tropicales y subtropicales. Ayudan a controlar la vegetación, ya que cortan y recogen hojas y otros materiales vegetales, lo que puede ayudar a prevenir la propagación de incendios forestales. También sirven como fuente de alimento para otros animales, como aves, reptiles y mamíferos. The sound is distinctive: a soft, persistent pattering
The edible part is primarily the large abdomen (gaster) of the reproductive females, which is filled with nutrients.
You do not simply snack on hormigas culonas from a bag while walking down the street. To eat them is to participate in a ceremony of terroir. They are traditionally served in a small, woven estora (palm leaf basket) or a hollowed-out totumo (calabash gourd), accompanied by a cold masato (fermented maize drink) or a crisp, high-altitude chicha . In modern gastronomy, they are paired with artisanal beers or dry white wines.
In the 21st century, the hormiga culona has leaped from the rustic budare to the white tablecloths of some of the world’s most avant-garde restaurants. This is due in no small part to the work of Colombian chef Leonor Espinosa, whose restaurant Leo in Bogotá has been repeatedly named one of the best in Latin America. Espinosa, an economist turned chef, has made it her mission to document, preserve, and elevate the biodiversity of Colombian cuisine.