Researchers are working on the technology to remove the toxicity from jellyfish and preserve the flavour, which is like fish, in the hope of convincing Europeans to put it on their plates.
Would you eat a jellyfish? Italian scientists believe they will soon be able to present local jellyfish as a brand new delicacy in Europe.
Asian jellyfish, which are already on the market are considered toxic by the European authorities as they are dried using Potassium Alum.
Antonella Leone, a researcher at Italy’s Institute of Sciences of Food Production in Lecce, is working on a technology to remove the toxicity of the animal and hopes to convince Europeans to put it in their plates.
Here is what she told us:
Eating jellyfish is a novelty in Europe, there is no culinary tradition linked to this product. But in reality, Asians and especially the Chinese have been eating jellyfish for thousands of years, it is something traditional for them.
If you eat them raw, jellyfish taste like the sea, like fish. But the products that are on the market, especially Asian products, completely lose this taste and these characteristics.
We are working to preserve this flavour to meet the taste of European consumers.
You can't eat all kinds of jellyfish. It is possible to eat some of them that are similar to Asian edible species, but much research still needs to be done, to be certain.
Some others, probably are not edible because they a have too high internal toxicity.
I think that when we have finished demonstrating that some jellyfish are edible when there is enough research to show that they are harmless, then Europeans will have no difficulty in introducing this kind of product into their diet.
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