Chefs at the two-Michelin-starred Alchemist restaurant in Copenhagen temporarily ditched their sous chef for a few scientists to conjure up a new “nutritious and sustainable source of protein” made with fungi that customers have instantly fallen in love with.
The main ingredient of the new fermentation-made product, which is packed with micronutrients including vitamin B5 and provitamin D2, is the root of the popular oyster mushroom.
Part of a project funded by the Good Food Institute, the culinary experiment has revealed the huge potential this root structure, or mycelium, has for making new meat and seafood alternatives.
Study author Dr Loes van Dam of the Technical University of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk Center for Biosustainability said: “Fungi offer huge unexplored potential to feed our growing population, providing nutritious and sustainable sources of protein with a fraction of the emissions and land needed to farm animals, and because they grow rapidly on food and agricultural byproducts, they can play a major role in contributing to a circular economy.
“There are millions of fungi species waiting to be investigated for gastronomic use, but varieties producing widely eaten mushrooms are a great place to start. As we found, the mycelium of the oyster mushroom is safe, nutritious and above all delicious.”
Restaurant customers who had a nibble said it had an “umami taste similar to cooked meat”.
Another important discovery made during the biomass fermentation process by Dr van Dam and his team, is that mycelium grows “rapidly on materials like wood and discarded coffee grounds” making it a significant boon in the battle to end hunger.
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