People Are Eating Jellyfish In A New, Wild Way

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Chip fans, listen up. Scientists have come up with light, low-fat, crispy and paper-thin jellyfish chips that could become the snack of the future. We know when you hear the word jellyfish, your brain immediately goes to the translucent, umbrella-shaped ocean creatures that you avoid at all costs when swimming. It’s time to start thinking about these creatures in a new way.

In recent decades jellyfish blooms have been on the rise and climate change is thought to be the main driver. Gastrophysicist Mie Thorborg Pederson (gastrophysics is a field that combines science and eating) of the University of Southern Denmark has embarked down a path of jellyfish culinary exploration to create the new innovative snack. 

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Jellyfish crisps naturally don’t have a bold flavor, but they have a promising mouthfeel and they’re aesthetically pleasing. Moving forward they could become an important new food source in Western cuisine as our oceans become jellyfish breeding grounds.

Usually preserving jellyfish is a month-long process. They tend to spoil quickly in room temperature so they would normally get cured with salt. This new method for making jellyfish crisps involves soaking them in alcohol for at least a day. As the alcohol evaporates, you’re left with a thin, dry crispy disc.

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Eating jellyfish isn’t a new concept — people have been eating them in Asia for thousands of years in all kinds of soups and salads — but the concept of turning them into edible crisps in just a few short days is a pioneering technique.

The Verge reports on Denmark chef Klavs Styrbaek, who has been experimenting with dried jelly appetizers. He suggests that brave home cooks could try soaking jellyfish in different types of alcohol to see what kinds of flavors they’re capable of absorbing. There are all sorts of possibilities that can come from these jellyfish crips. The texture and striking appearance could make them a popular ingredient for chefs all over the world. With the right seasonings, jelly fish crisps could become your go-to snack. 

Denmark has no shortage of crazy food innovations. Nordic chefs have been experimenting with all sorts of insects for years to make sustainability appealing in the culinary world.