A type of mold that grows on discarded food has been shown to fundamentally change the taste of the food, making food that would otherwise be thrown away edible in new ways.

Neurospora crassa, Orange fungus, grown from waste products from soy milk production, has been used for centuries to make onkom, a traditional food from the Indonesian island of Java.

Vayuhir Maini The UC Berkeley professor and his colleagues worked with chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants in New York and Copenhagen to develop new foods using the bacteria, some of which are now appearing on their menus, including a cheese-flavored toast made with stale bread and a sweet dessert made with sugar-free rice custard.

About a third of food is wasted worldwide, and discarded agricultural products account for about 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. Upcycling, or turning discarded produce into new, edible foods, can divert waste from landfills and reduce the climate impact of food production while also strengthening food security, Hill-Maini said.

His team: N. Intermedia It can thrive on at least 30 types of agricultural waste, including tomato pomace and banana peels, without producing toxins.

The fungus is capable of turning indigestible plant waste into nutritious food in about 36 hours. “It seems to be on a unique trajectory of transforming waste from trash to treasure,” Hill-Maini said.

When the team first had Danish consumers try Oncom, people consistently rated it a six or above on a scale of one to nine, and described the taste as “earthy and nutty,” he says.

Hill-Maini developed the fungus-based food in collaboration with Rasmus Munk, owner of the Copenhagen restaurant The Alchemist, and Andrew Lasmore of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York.

In The Alchemist, N. Intermedia It was used in a dessert of gelled plum wine and unsweetened rice custard and was fermented for 60 hours, a process that Munch says changed both the aroma and flavor “pretty dramatically.”

“It was shocking to suddenly discover flavors like banana and pickled fruit without adding anything other than the fungus itself,” he says. “Of course, not all of our wild shots work, but when they do, they can produce pretty revolutionary results.”

By demonstrating what upcycled food can achieve at the highest gastronomic level, the chefs hope to help accelerate commercial acceptance of the concept.

“We're just in the beginning stages of realizing its full potential,” Hill-Maini says.