Polish design student Roza Janusz has created a brand new edible packaging from kombucha. The kombucha used is produced from fermented sweetened black or green tea using a “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast” that Roza has dubbed the Scoby.
Sugars and other agricultural waste are added to ferment the material and after 2 weeks membranous sheets grow on the surface of the liquid. This can then be harvested and, due to its low pH, the material has a long shelf life of up to a year. As a bonus the liquid can be used as a “natural fertilizer or probiotic drink,”
Herbs, seed and even instant meals can be packaged in the Scoby. Preparation of the contents is simple as the packaging simply dissolves with only a slight acidic taste but soon absorbs the flavour of the food it wraps.
Janusz created the product as a zero waste way for farmers to wrap their products. Whether the process can ever be scaled up to commercial level remains t
