Jun 21, 2012 Edible Shells: The New Plastic Wrappers.
“Imagine drinking orange juice out of an orange-flavored container that you can chew after. Or ice cream in a non-melting chocolate envelope.” With the technology already existing, David Edwards, a biomedical engineer at Harvard, is attempting to push the boundaries of the way people eat their food and bring this product to the mainstream audience.
The idea is that any item you find in the store wrapped in a plastic wrapper can instead be “wrapped” in an edible, all-natural shell membrane that’s created by using a few electrostatic charges and natural molecules. You can then either peel off the shell and compost it, or get a little dangerous (and by “dangerous” I’m pointing out the fact that you’ll have no idea what that shell has touched) and just eat the darn thing.
Interesting idea, but what intrigued me the most was when David pointed out that his recently released ice cream wrapped in a fudge shell would never melt, so you could technically wait for the ice cream to melt, poke a hole in the shell, and drink the ice cream like a shake. Well done, David, well done.
