4 October 2018

Things that make us go … hmmmm

Is eating jellyfish an acquired taste, or is it more a case of being an acquired texture?

While the slippery sea critters have featured as a dinner plate delicacy in some Asian cuisines for millennia, the tentacled tidbits are somewhat less common to Western palates. But thanks to some intrepid Danish boffins, this could be about to change.

To get to the “crunch” of the matter, it is believed the “texture” of what we put in out mouths is an often overlooked factor in determining how we humans judge food to be safe and desirable to eat.

Could a simple and quick process to render the gelatinous bell of the jellyfish into crispy chip treats be the answer to tempting our tastebuds?

Using an ethanol process, the Danish scientists short-circuited the time-consuming salt and potassium alum marinade recipe traditionally used to process the fish into  pickle-like morsels.

Given that overfishing of other species, combined with climate change impacts, has resulted in booming jellyfish populations in some waters, the vitamin and nutrient-rich creatures may one day become an increasingly popular option as “Fish of the Day.”