On 20 and 21 March in Rome, at the headquarters ofItalian Space Agency the Symposium was held "At the table in Space: food production and conservation", an appointment to discuss the development of new solutions for crew sustenance during space missions. Elena Luciani, student of the Master's Degree Course in Food Sciences and Human Nutrition of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, presented a project that will allow transport and consume wine in space in the form of edible capsules.
"Wine is part of our culture and is associated with special moments or convivial occasions and this project serves to provide pleasant and familiar foods, contributing to the well-being of astronauts, guaranteeing a sense of connection with the earth" has ofchiarato the student. For the realization of the project a meeting was organised heterogeneous tasting panel comprised of runners UCBM, the private Gianfranco Vissani e oenological technicians to identify how the perception of different wines changes when the quantity tasted varies.
Each type of wine has its distinctive elements and it has been proven that botrytised wine (generally produced with late harvest grapes) guaranteed an intensity of taste and a satisfactory emotional impact in the quantity of 3 ml, a smaller quantity than 5 ml of red wine and easier to use in the encapsulation process. It was, therefore, developed a system of edible pills. "We started from the spherification technique, which is also widely used in molecular cuisine, but then we developed composite films of biopolymers with carbohydrates and proteins. - explains Elena Luciani - We are currently in a beta testing phaseing but further experiments are needed. This type of casing can also be used with other liquid substances, such as tea or coffee."
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