Eat the wrapper!
from modern chemistry, look set to keep lunches fresher longer and
be substituted for some non-biodegradable wraps, says the creator,
food chemist Tara McHugh.
Edible vegetable and fruit wraps, among the latest developments from modern chemistry, look set to keep lunches fresher longer and be substituted for some non-biodegradable wraps, says the creator, food chemist Tara McHugh.
McHugh, a scientist with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in California, says the edible wraps are more environment-friendly than plastic wrap and aluminium foil. In addition to covering sandwiches, she says the new wraps can protect meat in home freezers. And they also add to a healthful diet because each wrap is equal to a serving of a fruit or a vegetable.
"Another advantage of these wraps," McHugh explained, "is that they can provide a glaze or a sauce for cooking. You can use a tomato or ketchup-flavoured wrap to hamburgers when you freeze them and then when you defrost the meat you can cook the whole thing, wrap and all."
The wraps come in a wide variety of flavours, including broccoli, carrot, tomato, mango, peach, pear, apple, papaya and strawberry. The fact that they are biodegradable, unlike plastic and aluminium products, claims McHugh, compatible with the goals of green chemistry, which works to improve the environment or prevent harm to the land and water.
McHugh's work is featured in the April 2003 issue of the quarterly magazine, ChemMatters, published by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
The food wrap is an edible film cut in pre-formed sheets or into envelope-like shapes. It looks like a piece of paper, except that it is made from a highly concentrated puree of a fruit or a vegetable, not from a tree. While a wrap made entirely from fruit or vegetables keeps air from reaching the food, it is not very water-resistant. This is good because it will dissolve in the mouth, but it also has a higher risk of dissolving into the food in the freezer.
To make them more water-resistant, McHugh adds lipids, namely vegetable oils, to the wraps. Lipids are naturally water repellent, she explained.
Because the wraps can be made from off-grade produce, she says they could create a new market for farmers. Despite their many advantages, however, McHugh emphasizes that the edible wraps are not a replacement for all other food wraps.
In addition to the wraps, McHugh and her colleagues have created a snack bar that is 100 per cent fruit. Fruit bars normally contain other ingredients besides the fruit, she says. The 100 per cent fruit bar has no sodium, fat or preservatives and has 140 calories. It's just available on the West Coast at this point," according to McHugh.
McHugh added that the edible wraps are expected to be available in US stores by the end of the year.
