Could jellyfish be the food additive of the future ? That ’s the question an on-going expo in Cambridge , Massachusetts , is posing through an unusual conduit : cupcake .
Jellyfish populations are irrupt across the earthly concern ’s oceans , causingmajor egress . They clog the pipes of atomic nuclear reactor and other coastal power plants , and they can down off big populations of fish , both by stinging them and by using up all the nutrients in the water .
This declination , Massachusetts graphics galleryLe Laboratoire Cambridgeis exploring the myriad problem that will face a world filled with jellyfish in an exhibit called “ The Trouble with Jellyfish . ” As part of the exhibit — which also include a clever simulation ofhow fish feelin jelly - clogged amniotic fluid — the gallery ’s Café ArtScience is serving up a possible solution in the anatomy of cupcakes lace with man-of-war .
David Edwards , a Harvard prof and founder of the display space , introduced the topic of jellyfish as a food source in his Harvard class " How to Create Things & Have Them Matter . ” The students , in turn , came up with the idea of using jellyfish — creatures whose bodies are mostly piss and collagen — as an egg substitute in cupcakes .
However , it was up to Café ArtScience pastry chef Renae Connolly to make the technique body of work for customers . The end , she tellsmental_floss , was to take “ a intersection that would unremarkably just be trash ” and ferment it into a utilitarian baking financial aid . She buy dry , salted jellyfish from Chinatown ( jellyfish is a mutual dish inCantonese and some other East Asian culinary art ) and rinsed the gelatin in water for 24 hr to remove the salt and excess flavorings . Then , she coalesce the unseasoned jelly into a gelatin - like paste to apply as a leavening and tie agent in cake .
While the initial musical theme was that jellyfish could one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. become a tasty nut second-stringer for rest home Cook , “ it ’s still kind of a work in progress , ” Connolly warn . She describes her first try at jellyfish cupcake as an “ epic fail . ” As presently as she opened the oven doorway , “ BOOM , they all deflate now . ”
But with a lot more experiment , she was capable to make a successful bent of mini - cakes that she says were tasty than you might imagine . “ They were just a toothsome bar — no ‘ jellyfish ’ taste perceivable , ” she name . “ It ’s not too hard to dissemble any slightly savory flavor with a little vanilla and cupcake flavoring . "
Through her many trials , Connolly has confirmed that jellyfish might be a workable future food for thought solvent . ordinarily , when cake batter is made the night before , the butter separates out from the batter . But the jellyfish ’s " gel " acted as a stabilizer , prevent the butter from separating out , while their collagen added texture .
Still , there may be other barriers to eating away our jellyfish problems . Some criticsnote that the jellyfish specie experience the most population maturation are n’t the same single traditionally eaten in Asian culinary art . But perhaps those less - tasty diversity of jellies , though they may not be suitable as stand - alone dishes , could still serve as effective food additives .
“ The Trouble With Jellyfish ” runs until January 2 , 2016 , atLe Laboratoire Cambridge .
All images courtesy Le Laboratoire Cambridge
