Buzz
Could jellyfish become a future food additive? This is the question being explored by an ongoing exhibition in Cambridge, Massachusetts, using an unexpected medium: cupcakes.
Jellyfish populations are surging in oceans worldwide, leading to significant challenges. They obstruct the pipes of nuclear reactors and coastal power plants, and they can devastate fish populations by stinging them and depleting water nutrients.
This fall, the Massachusetts art gallery Le Laboratoire Cambridge is addressing the numerous issues posed by a jellyfish-dominated world in an exhibit titled “The Trouble with Jellyfish.” As part of the exhibit—which features an innovative simulation of how fish experience jellyfish-infested waters—the gallery’s Café ArtScience is offering a potential solution: cupcakes infused with jellyfish.
David Edwards, a Harvard professor and the founder of the exhibit space, introduced the concept of jellyfish as a food source in his Harvard class "How to Create Things & Have Them Matter.” Inspired by this, students proposed using jellyfish—creatures composed mostly of water and collagen—as an egg alternative in cupcakes.
However, it was Café ArtScience pastry chef Renae Connolly who brought the concept to life for customers. Her mission, as she explains to mental_floss, was to transform “a product typically considered waste” into a valuable baking ingredient. She sourced dried, salted jellyfish from Chinatown (a staple in Cantonese and other East Asian cuisines), rinsed them for 24 hours to remove salt and excess flavors, and then blended the desalted jellyfish into a gel-like paste to serve as a leavening and binding agent in cakes.
While the initial vision was for jellyfish to become a viable egg substitute for home bakers, Connolly cautions that “it’s still a work in progress.” She recalls her first attempt at jellyfish cupcakes as an “epic failure,” with the cakes deflating instantly upon opening the oven door.
After extensive experimentation, Connolly succeeded in creating a batch of mini-cakes that she describes as surprisingly tasty. “They were simply delicious cakes—no detectable ‘jellyfish’ flavor,” she notes. “Masking any slight savory taste is easy with a bit of vanilla and cupcake flavoring.”
Through her trials, Connolly discovered that jellyfish could indeed be a practical food solution. Typically, cake batter made in advance separates as the butter rises to the top. However, the jellyfish gel acted as a stabilizer, preventing butter separation, while the collagen added a pleasing texture.
Still, there are hurdles to using jellyfish as a food source. Some critics point out that the jellyfish species experiencing population booms aren’t the same as those traditionally consumed in Asian cuisine. While these less-palatable varieties may not work as standalone dishes, they could still serve as effective food additives.
“The Trouble With Jellyfish” exhibition will be on display until January 2, 2016, at Le Laboratoire Cambridge.
All images provided by Le Laboratoire Cambridge
