yuck: fish bladder in beer, bugs in strawberry yogurt
A scintillating 3 hour brunch yesterday at David’s Bagels (best bagel shop in the East Village by the way) brought my cronies & me to the subject of beer, and how it’s made with stomach lining.
Further investigation shows that indeed, many beers are made with Isinglass which is a form of gelatin from the lining of fish gas bladders (the air-filled organs they use for buoyancy). It’s used to expedite the flocculation of the yeast, forming a jelly-like substance that settles at the bottom of the beer which is then filtered out. Although the bladder lining gets filtered out with other impurities, some trace amounts are left in the beer. Here’s a list of which beers contain Isinglass and which don’t.
Also interesting is that Natural Red 4, also called carmine, found in red, pink, or purple beverages, yogurts, ice creams, and, of course, Campari, is made of bugs! Yes, bugs! The red dye is made from an insect called the cochineal which lives on cacti in Mexico and South America.
Info on bugs, bladders, and other delicious components of what you consume from Chow.
