From “bleeding” plant-based meat to laboratory-grown milk, counterfeit meat and dairy products have come a long way in recent years. But another alternative scientist is paying attention to seafood, which is the most difficult texture to reproduce. Scientists in Copenhagen are fermenting algae with fungi to develop the best seafood alternatives ever. We are also working with Micheline’s 2-star restaurant Alchemist to meet the diner’s demand for sustainable plant-based alternatives.

It is a difficult attempt to mimic the fiber of seaweed, and the team grows filamentous fungi on seaweed, microorganisms found in the soil that form a mass of intertwined strands, a single sea-like taste. We are conducting experiments to create products for. “We scientists don’t really understand how to make things delicious, which determines whether people eat them. We can learn a lot from each other, it’s slowly evolving, but not enough to make a really good product, “says Dr.

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Leonie Jahn, a microbiologist who leads the project. Reality-like seafood alternatives lag behind advances in the development of meatless replicas such as impossible burgers and plant-based milk designed to “bleed out.” Jahn considers seafood to be healthier, wrong, and more sustainable, which is partly due to low demand and the difficulty in restoring the texture of fish and seafood. I said it was one. “There are these layers and the texture is pretty soft, but there is resistance and crunch that is pretty hard to reproduce,” she said.

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Teams use mycelium. Mycelium is similar to yeast and is currently a topic of special scientific interest, but researchers have not specifically investigated its use. Not only related to plant-based meat, but also used as a plastic substitute. Experiment with different fermentation and growth conditions to find the best way to reproduce the delicate texture of seafood. Very sustainable, nutritious and fish-like algae pose another challenge as they do not provide ideal growth conditions for mycelia.

The Alchemist chef and co-owner, Rasmus Munk, said the restaurant “wants to change people’s perceptions of new food.” “Frankly, I can’t find anything on the market that I can put on the menu so far,” he said, so it’s important to make a seafood alternative.”The ultimate goal is to create a product that is inherently tastier than any other food, based on taste-only criteria,” he added.

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2021 is a year of “huge growth” for the alternative seafish market, with 18 new companies entering the market and sales increasing “surprisingly”, according to a report from the Good Food Institute, which is funding the project. did. The report described alternative seafood as “no opportunity.” This means that there was a huge undeveloped consumer demand. Seren Kell, Science and Technology Manager at Good Food Institute Europe, said investment in plant-based seafood is much earlier than other sustainable proteins, including the use of 3D printing to imitate fish. There is an “exciting innovation” in the fillet. To accelerate this, she said, “Government needs to invest in open access R & D.”

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Many British supermarkets sell a fake range of fish to take advantage of overfishing concerns, but much of what is sold resembles seafood flavored with tofu and jackfruit. .. Jens Møller, head of Cavi Art, a Danish company that manufactures alternative caviar from seaweed pearls, said the high price of plant-based alternatives is another obstacle to the mass market. His company strives to be significantly cheaper than the products it replaces, and as a result, 80% of the eggs offered in the Danish food service industry use Cavi Art caviar instead of real caviar. increase. “There is no doubt that the market will grow rapidly as product quality improves and prices fall. We need to change our way of doing things as we become more aware of the problems our oceans are facing. I think, “he said.

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Source: The Guardian