Niche Greed
Panama City's Steve Davis makes global trade work for him, but is such harvesting ecologically sustainable? He is just satisfying the Chinese appetite at the cost of long-term marine populations?
"What we know about them wouldn't fill but about half a page in a one-page book," he said, with a wry grin.
But what he does know is that they are a good way to make money, especially at a time when Asian imports are keeping wholesale shrimp prices low. A day's work and about $70 in fuel can bring in $1,000 worth of jellyfish, he said.
Though they don't sting, they are slimy, and their mucus-like covering will cause a burning sensation if it gets in your eyes, Davis said.
Another worker with a forklift loaded the bins into a pair of waiting tractor-trailers. The jellyfish go to a processing plant in Georgia, where they are dried out, and the salt is removed. Then, they are packed into 50,000-pound containers for shipping to China and Japan, Newton said.
He retrieved a plastic bag from his truck to show to curious visitors. Inside were three yellowish wafers about 5 inches across.
"They're all protein and taste like whatever you put on them," he said.
According to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the dried jellyfish are popular in Asia as salad toppers, or with cooked vegetables. A four-ounce serving contains 30 calories, 8 grams of protein and 120 milligrams of sodium.
I trust Steve will keep the secret to himself!
Sphere: Related Content
Barrapunto
CoRank Español
Delicious
Enchílame
Fresqui Ocio
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Menéame
Netscape
Newsvine
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Yahoo MyWeb
Write a comment
No trackbacks
RSS 2.0
Bloglines
Live
MyAOL
Netvibes
Newsgator
Rojo
