Meet last year's participants: Clorofille

Interview with Guilia Cavalli from Chlorophyll Nature Association

At Kulturhavn Festival you could eat your water!

The nature association Clorofille, which communicates science through creative activities, showed how to make edible water bubbles from seaweed. We caught up with Guilia Cavalli, who talked about the properties of seaweed:

"Brown algae contain alginate, which is a substance that helps them retain water, so that the algae do not dry out when they lie in shallow water. Alginate can be pulled out and you can e.g. buy it in Matas.

We put alginate in water, form the bubbles, put them in water with lime for a few minutes and then rinse them in plain water - and then they are ready to be eaten.

Then you don't need a plastic container, but can eat your water, and in that way seaweed can become a sustainable material.

You can also make e.g. food and beauty products with algae. But the really interesting thing is that we can use it as a sustainable material, because we can make bioplastic from it – actually edible plastic. You can make an edible water bottle from algae. And it's also biodegradable, because if you leave it in the water, it dissolves. That's the cool thing about it, I think.”

What can be done at your place? We do various science activities and creativity with natural materials. We use seaweed to make water bubbles that you can eat. You don't need a plastic container, but can eat your water. So we show how seaweed can become a sustainable material.

You make a bubble by taking water with alginate, which is a substance from brown algae that helps them retain water, so that the algae do not dry out when they lie in shallow water. We shape the bubbles, put them in water with lime for a few minutes and then rinse them in plain water before eating the bubbles.

Can you try some of it at home? You can buy alginate and try it yourself at home.

Why is seaweed an exciting material to work with? You can make e.g. food and beauty products with algae. But the really interesting thing is that we can use it as a sustainable material, because we can make bioplastic from it – actually edible plastic. You can make a biodegradable water bottle from algae and it is edible. That's the cool thing about it, I think.

If you leave it in the water, it will dissolve.