Campus News

‘Cannonball king’

Although cannonball jellyfish may not appear on many American plates, Georgia fishermen are catching it for consumers in Japan and China, according to an article in Garden & Gun. Yao-Wen Huang, a professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science’s food science and technology department, developed a more efficient process for preparing the jellyfish.

In the Garden & Gun article, Huang recalled the reaction of others when he proposed catching the jellyfish—which are a nuisance to some industries­—for market. “ ‘This guy is crazy,’ ” Huang recalled his colleagues saying. “They called me the cannonball king. They were teasing me then, but I didn’t mind.”

Now, according the magazine, “shredded Georgia jellyfish top salads and appetizer plates thousands of miles from their native waters.”

Huang said, “In China, they appreciate the quality. The (jellyfish) species over there are mostly much bigger, and the texture is not as firm. Also, of course, the product is from the United States and they market that. We have better food safety here.”