Um, so people are now deep frying water and I just wanna know why?

People are now making deep fried water and I’ve honestly had enough internet for one day. This is not an April Fool’s joke, people are seriously putting water into breadcrumbs and throwing it into the deep fat fryer and hoping for the best.

The weird trend has actually been around for a number of years but is now having a resurgence on TikTok and YouTube because people clearly have run out things to do in lockdown.

Whilst deep frying stuff usually improves the taste that is not the case with deep fried water as it apparently tastes like jellyfish which does not sound appealing at all. And there’s not just one method to make this weird tasting snack, there’s quite a few recipes, if you can call it that?

This is everything you need to know about deep fried water:

Who started the trend?

The first known person to start deep frying water was YouTuber and chef Jonathan Marcus in 2016. He coated the water in flour, panko bread crumbs and egg and then put it into the deep fat fryer and it actually kinda worked.

And now five years later a bunch of YouTubers and TikTokers have started having a go at it. One such person is James Orgill, who is a chemical engineer and got it right on his first attempt.

Since then a TikToker called Trendy Chef who has a habit of deep frying stuff, also deep fried water and his video has subsequently had nearly 700k views.

So can you actually deep fry water?

So technically it’s not water straight from the tap as that would just mix with the oil and create a giant mess, as oil and water do not go well together at all.

Jonathan Marcus used calcium alginate which is gelatin like substance that binds the water together to create a liquid membrane and kind looks like the balls in bubble tea.

The balls are then rolled in flour, egg and panko bread crumbs before being put in the fryer. Obviously when it’s cut open it just forms a puddle of water and soggy breadcrumbs.

However YouTuber Eitan Bernath has come up with a way to make the water hold its structure more. On his channel he posted a video explaining that he used agar agar which is a vegan gelatin like substance and once fried still holds some sort of shape.

Eitan would not recommend trying it at home and told Vice the snack tastes like “jellyfish”. How he knows what jelly fish tastes like I have no idea.

Featured image credit before edits: Sime Basioli on Unsplash  

Related stories recommended by this writer:

•People are just finding out what Just Eat is called in Australia and honestly, just why

•What the hell is going on with Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp on Twitter?

•A cargo ship is stuck in the Suez Canal, but these 19 memes are here to save it