## 3 Results and Discussion
### Chemical Composition of Freeze-Dried Edible Insect Larvae  
The chemical composition of the freeze-dried _H. illucens_ and _T. molitor_ larvae is summarized in Table 4. The highest amount of components for both insects, _H. illucens_ and _T. molitor_ larvae, is protein content. Also, the insects are a good source of fat and the fat content of _H. illucens_ larvae is notably elevated (similar amount to protein content), while for _T. molitor_ larvae, a higher content of protein is noted, but quite a high amount of fat is still obtained. These differences are associated with the insect species. The effect of PEF treatment for protein and fat extraction yield is not observed for _H. illucens_ larvae. Nevertheless, the sample treated with 20 kJ/kg is characterized by a slightly higher protein content and lower fat content, probably due to cellular structural damage and an enhanced capability of the solvent to thoroughly permeate the material. The study demonstrated by [PERSON] et al. [36] also confirmed the lack of increase in the oil extraction yield from convective-dried _H. illucens_ larvae after PEF treatment. In turn, the freeze-dried _T. molitor_ larvae present a significant decrease in protein content. Such behavior can be linked to the electroporation phenomenon, which may promote some structural changes in the proteins and in the results, may lead to a reduction in protein extractability, especially when the higher electric field strength was used [36]. Also, molecular rearrangements during drying can change the protein content, especially due to proteolysis and oxidative stress [9] as well as the lack of enzyme inactivation during a freeze-drying process [58]. Furthermore, the reason may also be the fat composition of _T. molitor_ larvae. This fat contains a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids, which may cause its oxidation process and thus foster protein oxidation [9]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Sample**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Moisture (\%)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Protein (\%)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Fat (\%)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Ash (\%)**} \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{_H. illucens_} & 0 kJ/kg & 16.80 \(\pm\) 2.33 \({}^{\text{b,*}}\) & 35.80 \(\pm\) 1.04 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 34.60 \(\pm\) 1.96 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 4.20 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & 5 kJ/kg & 12.51 \(\pm\) 0.51 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 35.73 \(\pm\) 1.00 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 34.52 \(\pm\) 1.83 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 4.57 \(\pm\) 0.02 \({}^{\text{c}}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & 20 kJ/kg & 16.77 \(\pm\) 2.01 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 37.38 \(\pm\) 0.87 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 33.33 \(\pm\) 2.47 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 4.30 \(\pm\) 0.02 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{_T. molitor_} & 0 kJ/kg & 6.69 \(\pm\) 0.25 \({}^{\text{B}}\) & 48.02 \(\pm\) 0.54 \({}^{\text{B}}\) & 26.78 \(\pm\) 0.21 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 3.82 \(\pm\) 0.02 \({}^{\text{A}}\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & 5 kJ/kg & 4.19 \(\pm\) 1.05 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 48.03 \(\pm\) 0.49 \({}^{\text{B}}\) & 26.83 \(\pm\) 0.80 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 4.09 \(\pm\) 0.02 \({}^{\text{C}}\) \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{2-6}  & 20 kJ/kg & 4.15 \(\pm\) 0.11 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 45.40 \(\pm\) 0.59 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 26.90 \(\pm\) 0.70 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 3.93 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\text{B}}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* The same letters in columns (lowerce for _H. illucens_ larvae, uppercase for _T. molitor_ larvae) denote the same homogeneous groups, which do not differ statistically (_p_ < 0.05).  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Chemical composition of freeze-dried untreated (0 kJ/kg) and PEF-treated (5 and 20 kJ/kg). _H. illucens_ and _T. molitor_ larvae. Figure 3: Photos and structure of freeze-dried untreated (0 kJ/kg) and PEF-treated (5 and 20 kJ/kg) of _H. illucens_ and _T. molitor_ larvae. The moisture and ash content in freeze-dried larvae has been dependent on the insect species and PEF treatment. The lower moisture content determined for PEF-treated samples might be due to the electroporation phenomenon.