If you are wondering if it would be possible to ferment food in space, the answer is apparently yes. In a study published in the journal iscienceResearchers from the United States and Denmark say they have been able to make miso to decent taste on the international space station – but the flavor and the smell were distinct from those of Miso made on earth. Although it has still marked well in taste tests, with notes similar to the Miso of the Earth in qualities like Umami and salinity, ISS Miso has proven more nut and more roasted than usual things.
The team suggests that the results reflect a kind of “space terroir”, playing on the term often used compared to wine grapes to describe the characteristics of unique and specific flavors. For the study, the researchers sent a package containing the ingredients of miso paste (cooked soy, koji and salt rice) at the ISS in March 2020, and let it ferment for 30 days. They also started Miso prizes at home in Cambridge, MA and Copenhagen, Denmark, and monitored the environmental conditions of each configuration. After a month, the Miso space was returned and analyzed in relation to the lots of earth.
“There are certain characteristics of the spatial environment in low terrestrial orbit – in particular microgravity and increased radiation – which could have impacts on how microbes develop and metabolize and thus the functioning of fermentation,” said the co -directed author Joshua D. Evans of the Denmark University of Denmark in a press release. “We wanted to explore the effects of these conditions.”
Not only were there differences in flavor, including the notable roasted hazelnut of the spatial miso, but also in the microbial composition of miso. The team concluded that “overall, the spatial miso is a miso”, but says that the results “suggest a specific fermentation environment in space”.
This article originally appeared on engadget to
