Rhopilema esculentum

 Jellyfish are any various species of bowl-shaped cnidarians of the classes Scyphozoa, Hydrozoa, or Cubozoa  that live primarily in the open ocean. Jellyfish feed by capturing prey that they have subdued with the nematocysts or stinging cells on their arms and tentacles. The type of prey (from microscopic phytoplankton to small crustaceans to fairly large fish) is determined by the size of the jellyfish, location within the water column, and the strength of the venom. Jellyfish, in turn, have numerous predators, including sea turtles, tuna, damselfish, sharks, squid, pelagic octopi, other cnidarians, including other jellyfish, and humans.

Species of jellyfish have been harvested and prepared for food by Asian people, especially by the Chinese, for centuries. In modern times, the preferred species of jellyfish for the jellyfishery is the Sand Jellyfish, Rhopilema esculentum, also known as the Kishinouye, or Bizen Kurage, which is commercially cultivated in “ranches” in Eastern China, near the coast of the Yellow Sea, where captured juveniles are raised in fishtanks before being released into the sea so they can both replenish the natural population and be harvested. To neutralize the Sand Jellyfish’s painful, occasionally life-threatening poisonous nematocysts (which can continue stinging for a long time after their owner’s demise), to protect against the danger of bacterial food poisoning, and to improve the consistency of the flesh, jellyfish is prepared either by repeated pickling in solutions of brine, baking soda, ash or alum, repeated drying, rehydrating, and rinsing before re-drying, or by a cycle of pickling, drying, and rinsing.  From a culinary perspective, jellyfish is esteemed in Asian cuisines for its texture, and not its taste (which is wholly dependent on the spices and condiments it is prepared with prior to serving). The texture is soft and chewy, yet, slightly crispy and crunchy, somewhat similar to the texture of a butter pickle. In Chinese cuisine, jellyfish most commonly served sliced and marinated in sesame oil, garlic and vinegar, though it is also served steamed or boiled in soups as a thickening agent. In Japanese cuisine, jellyfish is cut into strips and deepfried, often served with sea urchin roe. In all but the most open, accepting and or insanely chic Western cuisines, the idea of eating jellyfish is dismissed as an inedible daydream. To the majority of Westerners, jellyfish are regarded as dangerous maritime health hazards, not as potential food.