In a radical departure from the humble spud, Mie Thorborg Pedersen of the University of Southern Denmark has discovered a way to make crisps from jellyfish.

In Asia, where eating jellyfish has been a tradition for over 1,000 years, the animals have to be cured in salt for a month before they can be eaten.

Pedersen’s research shows that jellyfish can be turned into an edible product in just a few days if they are soaked in alcohol.

After a day of soaking, the water content of the jellyfish’s body is replaced with alcohol. Left for longer, the alcohol evaporates, producing the jellyfish crisp.

According to Petersen, they don’t taste like much.

“They’re very different from other food,” she says. “It’s a bit hard to describe, but they are very crispy and feel a little like paper in your mouth.”

The research has been published in the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, and has been described as a product that may be a “new resource for future food in western cuisine.”

Their findings could have relevance for the future, as jellyfish populations are exploding worldwide, damaging fish stocks and infrastructure in large numbers.

Climate change and declining numbers of jellyfish predators are thought to be major factors in this.

Danish chef Klavs Styrbæk is experimenting with the dried jellyfish, and it may be possible to give the jellyfish different flavours by soaking them in different alcohols.

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