KAYSERI, Turkey
Walnuts and their distinctive wrinkly shells have been reported to have many benefits in folk medicine, from curing warts to killing ringworm. But few people, it would seem, have thought of using them to produce organic sausages.
Until now. Two 11-year-old Turkish boys, as part of a science competition, have created sausages using walnut shell powder as a preservative instead of potentially carcinogenic chemicals such as nitrate and nitrite.
Ali Baris Ustundag and Yasar Esener both study at the Cetin Sen Science and Art Center, the only public education institution for gifted students in the central Turkish province of Kayseri.
Their project, titled "The Miracle of Green Walnut Shell in Sausages," finished in the top nine among 80 regional entries in a competition organized by the Ministry of Education and the Scientific and Research Council of Turkey, the country's main research funding and science management agency.
It will now go to the finals of the competition, to be held May 5 in Ankara, the national capital.
"It is possible to produce more healthy and tasty sausages using walnut shells instead of chemicals," Ustundag told the Anadolu Agency. He said the demand for organic products has been increasing in recent years.
He said the increasing population, a growing nutritional imbalance and the increase in industrial areas have led to a surge in health problems.
"Sausages may contain dangerous microorganisms," he said. "We used walnut shells in order to prevent the growth of such harmful bacteria. Walnut shells can both prevent the growth of and destroy such bacteria. In industrial sausage production, they use nitrates and nitrites instead."
The students have discovered that walnut shells avoid premature spoilage as well.
"We made an analysis and found out that phenolic compounds such as juglone in green walnut shells have antimicrobial properties," Ustundag said. "We have also observed that these compounds avoid growth of molds in sausage as well. Therefore, we have concluded that they could be used as anti-microbial additives instead of nitrates and nitrites, thereby enhancing the functionality of sausages in the process,"
It is yet to be seen if this project could spark mass production of sausages containing crushed walnut shells. But it just might -- and one can never guess what products kids this smart will dream up next.
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