Using microbes to transform foods through fermentation is the secret behind many of our favorite flavors, from cheeses to beer (SN: 9/19/17). But what if, instead of transforming one food into another, microbes were able to transform food waste into tasty bites?
Enter Neurospora intermedia, an orange-colored fungus that thrives when grown on food waste products such as soybean pulp and coffee grounds. By using it to ferment by-products that might otherwise be thrown away, the fungus could help reduce waste while producing new foods that are tasty and nutritious, fungal biologist Vayu Hill-Maini and colleagues report August 29 in Nature Microbiology.
The process is already used to make a
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