New York restaurants serve fungi.
Neurospora intermedia may not be on the menu, but it's a key ingredient used to create certain meals in the kitchen at the Michelin-starred Blue Hill in New York's Stone Barns. It's part of a collaboration between researchers in California and chefs in Blue Hill and Copenhagen to develop new foods using the bacteria.
A study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley and published in the journal Nature Microbiology details how the fungus Neurospora crassa is used to ferment food that was previously considered waste. are.
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The research will be led by Dr. Vayu Hiru Maini, who recently joined Stanford University as an assistant professor of bioengineering.
Hiru Maini has a culinary background. “I want to address a pressing global challenge in our food system: the amount of food that goes to waste,” he told Fox News Digital. (See video directly below.)
“Redefining and rethinking what we eat and how we produce that food to ensure that our planet is still habitable and that we have an adequate food supply for future generations.” There is a real urgent need to do so,” said Hill Maini.
About 30 percent of all food grown in the United States is “wasted or lost in some way,” Hill-Maini said.
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“And this isn't just eggshells and kale stalks in the trash,” he said. “It’s truly industrial scale.”
He said wasted food impacts food security and access. “This is completely edible material. If you're wasting it, you're not feeding it to humans.”
This fungus uses pectin and cellulose during fermentation.
His research sought solutions to these problems.
“One very powerful way is to use fermentation to take these waste products and turn those discarded components into something new,” he said.
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Hir Maini conducted extensive research on Neurospora intermedia, a fungus cultured from okara and traditionally used in Indonesia to make a food called onkom.
This fungus uses pectin and cellulose during fermentation.
This sample of Neurospora intermedia is made from oat milk waste. (Patrick Farrell/University of California, Berkeley)
To test his research, Hill-Maini needed willing participants.
He found two.
One was an alchemist from Copenhagen. The other is Blue Hill at Stone Barns, located at the Stone Barns Food and Agriculture Center in Pocantico Hills, New York.
Blue Hill chef and special projects director Andrew Lesmore told Fox News Digital that the farm-to-table restaurant has been using Neurospora intermedia for about two years. (See the video at the top of this article.)
Reconsidered in Neurospora intermedia, rice bread has a French toast-like texture and “this wonderful, cheesy, really delicious flavor.”
Among the menus created by the bacteria are toast made from stale rice flour bread and desserts made from rice custard.
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Lusmore said rice flour bread “is a gluten-free bread, so it gets really hard after a day.”
But rethinking it with Neurospora intermedia gives it a French toast-like texture and “this wonderful, cheesy, really delicious flavor.”
The growth stages of Neurospora intermedia can be seen on Blue Hill's rice flour bread at Stone Barns in New York. After a day, rice bread becomes “hard as a rock” (center), but with Neurospora intermedia it becomes “this wonderful, cheesy, super delicious” French toast-like food (right). (Blue Hill at Stone Barns)
Mr Lesmore said the raw mushrooms had “orange fluff” on them but admitted it didn't look appetizing.
However, when cooked, a metamorphosis occurs.
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“Then, that fluff becomes a deep orange color, and it becomes a really beautiful golden brown and delicious color,” Lesmore says.
“Fungi can make delicious food”
Of course, there are other fungi foods, especially mushrooms. Also, popular cheeses made with fungi include brie and blue cheese.
“We know from ancient human history that fungi can make delicious food,” Hill-Maini said.
Brie cheese is a popular cheese made from fungi. (St. Petersburg)
So, what makes Neurospora crassa different?
“What we thought was, instead of using fungi to ferment all these really great ingredients, what if we actually thought about things a little differently? “Can we ferment waste and turn it into food?” Hill-Maini said.
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“This means waste becomes tastier, more nutritious and helps address food security challenges and sustainability.”
These sautéed patties made from okara were inoculated with Neurospora crassa and fermented for several days. The patty was cooked and paired with cashew cream sauce, grilled yam, and fresh cherry tomato and cucumber salad. (Patrick Farrell/University of California, Berkeley)
For skeptics, Hill Maini pointed out that the fungus has undergone “rigorous scientific research.”
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“This is not just a fungus that was accidentally discovered in the soil,” he says.
“Relationship with larger food culture”
Lesmore hopes his involvement with Neurospora will yield even greater benefits.
Above is a microscopic observation of Neurospora crassa on rice milk waste from Stoneburn's Blue Hill. (Blue Hill at Stone Barns)
“Yes, we are serving this in our restaurants for the time being,” he said.
“But in the long run, it's important that it doesn't just exist within the four walls of a very expensive restaurant,” Lesmore says.
“It’s about developing ideas that relate to the larger food culture and can be enjoyed at all levels of dining, from home dining to restaurant dining.”
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The challenge is finding the best way to educate others and get people excited about “foods that we believe have really great value and have great potential,” he added. Ta.
It helps, he says, that “there's a newfound euphoria about fermented foods.”
Andrew Lesmore said he has been cooking with Neurospora at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York, for about two years. (Fox News Digital)
“For me, the real story is bringing together two professions that have historically been siled: scientists, people like Dr. Vayu, and chefs in different types of white coats, and bringing them together in the same room. ,” Lesmore said.
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Hill Maini agreed with that idea.
“It's really great to have real-world producers and top chefs here say, 'I want you to be part of this research,'” he said.
“This is a way for us to bridge the gap from lab to fork and ensure that what we research and learn reaches people.”
