quorn - can you grow some?

[nabraxas]

can't seem to find this in aus.

quorn

a fermented fungus, that's the most delicious meat substitute around. it's big in the UK/europe, & american food manufacturers are scare-mongering to try & keep it out ov their markets.

if anyone can grow & process it, a fortune in quorn burgers, pies etc, awaits.

[squiresk]

The stuff is not that great, and vegans can't eat it because of the egg.

Go for it, I say if you're up for a challenge.

Or stick with more 'gourmet' fungi.

Doesn't taste like meat. texture, is 'almost close'

[theobromos]

It would be easy to grow, but spinning it to the right texture with chicken periods could be less easy.

Chicken of the woods is supposed to be remarkably meaty.

[nabraxas]

chicken ov the woods info

http://www.mushroomsrus.co.uk/chicken.htm

[Rev]

Now i know this is a matter of differring philosophy but it suprises me someone would want to eat Fusarium mould from a bioreactor but not healthy organic free range (no chickens harmed in the making) Eggs ?

Maybe well find it in future but a Sclerotia forming edible mushroom would be an ideal meat substitute. Innoculate sawdust with indeible agricultural by products then allow to incubate for a few months as the mycelium grows into golf to softball sized sclerotia which remain fresh for months, can be used to clone and start new colonies and have good digestibility and cook well retaining aroma and texture, or could be dried out and ground to make a protein rich Flour

Well its not so much a dream cos many species possess almost all those qualities but usually have one or more major problems - then again weve hardly explored whats out there.

Polyporus mylittae - Blackfellas bread mycelium was cultired in suspension and compared to the regular shop Agaricus mycelium and was found to be twice as nutritious. This species has a history of usage in the mallee country of southern australia where it forms large underground sclerotia that were (maybe still are) eaten by the Local Aboriginal people.

If we want to look to future meats/foods we need to look at ways we can turn waste protein to edible protein, not simply produce more - to which were fast approaching the biological limits of what can be sustainably acheieved

If we got over our aversions to eating insects there'd be no hunger but as thats unlikely maybe shrooms are it

[mescalito]

So what bugs make good eating Rev?

[nabraxas]

wigidee grubs taste like peanuts allegedly.

excellent reply reville. i love quorn, but i can see why people would have problems w/fungus.

i think the future may lie in TVP obtained from some kind ov (probably genetically obtained) sea weed like, simple organism; that can be harvested virtually continuosly, & grown en masse in a small areas ov sea water.

[planthelper]

eggs are a good source of lithium, so ive been told.

[Ashoka]

I've beem dreaming about opening an insect restaurant the last couple of years. I don't think my country is ready yet though..

Have to wait until the insect craze hits (like the sushi craze hit in the eighties).. It must come around some day..

[smogs]

sort of along the same line...

anyone here heard of natto? thats strange stuff

its soya beans that are left to ferment in rice straw and they get this sticky nasty looking stringy stuff (like melted cheese).

anyone know what it tastes like?

its a japanese food

[spaced]

planthelper:

eggs are a good source of lithium, so ive been told.

Probably the caged variety - I like the parallel's drawn between Homo sapiens and battery hens in the movie "Baraka." For further explorations of such theories I would have to highly recommend "The Human Zoo" by Desmond Morris.

I find entomophagy appealing on a theoretical level but since early experiments - swallowing one of those white moths often seen attacking the vegie patch I haven't continued my research. Although suffering no noticeable adverse effects at the time, you might say I've since had butterflies in the stomach - which is unfortunate really when we consider the efficiency with which these smaller members of the food chain are able to produce, in many cases, a complete protein. Some of them are, apparently, very good for predicting the weather - swarming when the rains are a comin'. Eating plant pests links the human more intrinsically with any permacultural system. But for the most part wigidee grubs and bogong moths are a bit out of spaced's home territory. I'd be interested if anyone has any experience with some of the specimens growing in and around perth.

[John_Barleycorn]

nabraxas:

wigidee grubs taste like peanuts allegedly.

Actually, more like cashews, which is considerably better. The last time I had a feed was when I was burning off some black wattle that they had bored into. They were crawling out freshly cooked, which was too convenient! Hhmm, I wonder if they like other acacias, and what they might absorb ...