Insect jelly

Insect jelly is a type of food that periodically appears near insect hives. It fills the recreation meter of colonists by 8% when eaten raw. Note that it is considered raw food, and so has the same 2% food poisoning chance when consumed by humans. It can also be used as a cooking ingredient.

Acquisition

Insect jelly is produced by insectoid hives, including both those that spawn naturally in caves, in ancient shrines, or during infestations. Each hive spawns 20 jelly every 26,000 ticks (7.22 mins) to 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins), or 10.4 to 12 in-game hours, so long as there are is less than 40 jelly in adjacent tiles. An additional 30 jelly is generated when a hive is destroyed.

It can also occasionally be bought from traders.

Summary

Eating a single portion of insect jelly refills the recreation meter of colonists by 8%, providing "Food Consumption" type recreation, and the saturation meter, providing 0.05 nutrition. Cooking insect jelly into a meal loses its recreation bonus.

As with all raw foods, it has a 2% chance to cause food poisoning when consumed by humans. Animals consuming the jelly are unaffected.

Unlike most other foods, it does not rot. While it will still deteriorate if left outside and/or unroofed, it will not spoil even if left unrefrigerated.

Analysis

Insect jelly does not spoil, it only deteriorates with exposure to the elements, and provides roughly 8% recreation of the Gluttonous type per consumption, so its also a good emergency food supply to break out when times are tough and mood is at risk due to lack of recreation time, however its low nutritional value makes it a poor choice for actual sustenance. It is especially good for caravans as they can't get recreation while moving otherwise, and only slowly get social recreation when stopped.

In this role is comparable to Chocolate which provides 10% Gluttonous recreation and 0.1 nutrition. Statistically, chocolate is superior in terms of nutrition and recreation provided and the lack of food poisoning risk is especially helpful, however Insect Jelly requires no research to acquire and is often acquired in large amounts from threats that would arise regardless. Chocolate must be researched and farmed. Additionally, insect jelly is also 1/3 the weight of chocolate and sells for more, giving it advantages as a buffer product in caravans as it occupies less weight for trade goods and is worth more in the event that it must be sold to make up the value in a trade. Chocolate can be produced at will, on maps without mountains, and without fighting an infestation. Which is preferable will depend on the circumstances of each individual colony, as well as player preference.

Insect jelly is the only nonperishable food that high-ranking conceited nobles are willing to eat, allowing it to act as a sort of "lavish survival meal".

It is also a decent trade good, separate to its use by the caravan itself, as it is valuable, light and it is easy to get a lot of it when facing late game infestations, or can even be farmed.

Farming techniques

Insect jelly can be farmed by first defeating an infestation. Don't destroy the hives, as they are the things that spawn the jelly. Build a structure around the defeated hives, with a mini-killbox. The hives will slowly start recovering, and they will spawn new insects. Periodically, trigger the insects and kill them to stop them from consuming the precious jelly.

If you have a surplus of power, you can attach another structure to the insect box, connect the two with vents, and install heaters in the attached structure. Set the temperature on the heater to heatstroke* levels and cook 'em. Depending on the temperature achieved*, the insects will die a few hours or days after being spawned, while the insect jelly is not affected. Once it's safe (or after repeating a few times), you can open the vents and (after things cool down) send someone in to haul the jelly. Forbid the entrance to prevent pawns from foolishly entering without you noticing.

(* All Insectoids have a comfortable high temperature limit of 60 °C (140 °F), so you have to get things pretty hot to knock them off in less than a day, higher than 85 °C (185 °F), and 160 °C (320 °F) will still take over 6 hours, after it gets that hot. See Heatstroke for details.

Note that the reverse tactic, dropping the temperatures severely, does not work as neatly for several reasons. First, insectoids do not die from hypothermia, but only suffer hypothermic slowdown, so the very best you can achieve is sleeping bugs that will quickly reawaken if temperatures are not maintained. To add to the fun, different bug types have different minimum comfortable temperatures, but you'll have to aim for lower than -100 °C (-180 °F) below your target's minimum range to effect them in ~4 hours. See hypothermic slowdown for details.)