The Future Of Food,Edible Packaging Is The Next Big Thing

(Sue Quinn)  Pouring your milk then eating the bottle sounds less than tempting, but edible packaging is beingtouted as food technology’s next Big Thing.

It’s not entirely new, of course. Heston Blumenthal’s been at it for years, wrapping palatable paper around packets of soup and urging us to eat salted caramels wrapper and all. Anyone who has eaten turron also knows the slightly odd sensation of rice paper melting in their mouth. But two US companies are currently vying to be the first to commercially exploit the “untapped market” for wrappers you can munch.

Leading the way (in publicity terms, at least) is the Dumbledore of food technology, Harvard wizard Dr David Edwards whose previous innovations include an “breathable” chocolatedelightfully called Le Whif. He has now turned his attention to WikiCells – an edible membrane made from a biodegradable polymer and food particles – that can imitate “bottles” found in nature, such as grape skins.

So far, Dr Edwards and his team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have created a tomato membrane containing gazpacho soup, an orange membrane filled with orange juice that can be sipped through a straw, a grape-like membrane holding wine and a chocolate membrane containing hot chocolate. He believes pretty much any flavour is possible.

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