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Due to factors such as global warming and over-fishing of its predators, the humble jellyfish has experienced a population explosion in recent years. In fact, there are so many of the creatures in some places that jellyfish-killing aquatic robots have been designed to keep their numbers under control. It seems like a waste to just dump them, though. With that in mind, a scientist from the University of Southern Denmark has developed a method of turning them into a potato chip-like food.
Dried jellyfish have actually been eaten for centuries in Asian cultures. The drying process (which involves using salt and alum to extract water from them) takes 30 to 40 days, however. Additionally, the finished product has a somewhat gristly texture that's off-putting to many Westerners.
Mie Thorborg Pedersen has instead simply steeped them in alcohol, which replaces their water content within just a couple of days. It then evaporates completely once they're left out to dry, leaving nothing but a thin, crispy disc. Although the finished product reportedly doesn't have much flavor, Thorborg Pedersen states that, "The mouth feel and the aesthetic appearance in particular have gastronomic potential."
[...] A paper on the research was recently published in The International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science.
Meanwhile, still waiting for squid jerky to take off in the West.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:38PM (8 children)
Everyone else commenting seems to be off-put. From the description they seem bland and ready for flavouring. Also, I would imagine the jellyfish are probably low in carbohydrates so this is probably acceptable for many modern diets, which is very difficult to find in a vegetarian palate.
Interestingly enough, there seems to be a debate if jellyfish are vegetarian/vegan. Yes they are in the kingdom Animalia but they lack a central nervous system.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:55PM (4 children)
Jellyfish have animal cells lacking the cell walls of plant cells. They're not vegetarian because they're made of animal meat, and they're killed to become food. Seems pretty unambiguous to me, although I expect fake vegetarians will make false claims to justify blatant hypocrisy like they always do.
Real vegetarians don't even participate in the debate because they don't need to pretend to follow a vegetarian diet and they don't use their diet solely to signal virtue.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @11:37PM
Exactly! When real vegetarians want to signal virtue, they brag about their inability to tell the difference between a chicken burrito and their hand.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Magic Oddball on Sunday July 30 2017, @02:01AM (1 child)
Wrong. [wikipedia.org] Jellyfish are made primarily of a gelatinous material covered by an extremely thin dermis.
Plants are also respiring, digesting, reproducing, moving (albeit very slowly), sensing sound waves & injuries, etc. all the way until they're killed in order to be eaten as well. They're no less "alive" than a jellyfish, and moreso than an unfertilized chicken egg.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 30 2017, @04:26AM
Of course plants are alive. So? Let's not water down the term "vegetarian" until it becomes totally meaningless.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Sunday July 30 2017, @10:13AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @04:57PM (2 children)
"Yes they are in the kingdom Animalia but they lack a central nervous system. "
So too politicians. Eat them as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 29 2017, @05:09PM (1 child)
I thought politicians were fungus which feed on decay.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Saturday July 29 2017, @07:20PM
No, they are corruption feeding on money. Then we have the politicus sychopatus. Commonly found in position of power and feeds of putting others into misery for power.