--- title: Ooho Edible Water Bob Aims to Replace Plastic Bottles description: Edible water blob hopes to replace plastic water bottles. canonical: https://time.com/40048/this-edible-water-blob-could-replace-plastic-water-bottles/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-27T14:46:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:14.393Z og:title: This Edible Water Blob Could Replace Plastic Water Bottles og:description: The concept won a 2014 Lexus Design Award og:url: https://time.com/40048/this-edible-water-blob-could-replace-plastic-water-bottles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Edible Water Blob Could Replace Plastic Water Bottles twitter:description: The concept won a 2014 Lexus Design Award twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Edible Water Blob Could Replace Plastic Water Bottles > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 27, 2014 2:46 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 27, 2014 2:46 PM UTC _Fast Company_ recently [profiled](http://www.fastcoexist.com/3028012/this-edible-blob-is-a-water-bottle-without-the-plastic) an edible, inexpensive packaging for water that is supposed to be a more environmentally friendly and biodegradable alternative to plastic bottles. This blob-like container called Ooho! is made through a process called spherification, which shapes liquids into spheres. As _Fast Company_ [describes](http://www.fastcoexist.com/3028012/this-edible-blob-is-a-water-bottle-without-the-plastic) it: “A compound made from brown algae and calcium chloride creates a gel around the water…While the package is being formed, the water is frozen as ice, making it possible to create a bigger sphere and keeping the ingredients in the membrane and out of the water.” And it reportedly only costs two cents to make. Ooho! was one of 12 winners at the second annual Lexus Design Awards 2014, developed by Skipping Rocks Lab designers Rodrigo García Gonzalez, Pierre Pasalier, and Guillaume Couche. There are edible containers on the market. [Wikipearl](http://www.wikipearl.com/buy/), sold in a few Whole Foods locations, contains yogurt and ice cream creations in packaging made from calcium ions and particles of nuts, chocolate, and seeds that is supposed to be part of the “culinary experience,” its developer and biomedical engineer David Edwards told [_Wired_](http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/08/start/the-gourmet-packaging-experience) in August 2013. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/40048/this-edible-water-blob-could-replace-plastic-water-bottles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/40048/this-edible-water-blob-could-replace-plastic-water-bottles/"},"headline":"This Edible Water Blob Could Replace Plastic Water Bottles","datePublished":"2014-03-27T14:46:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:14.393Z","description":"A winner of the 2014 Lexus Design Awards, it is cheap and biodegradable, the designers claim","url":"https://time.com/40048/this-edible-water-blob-could-replace-plastic-water-bottles/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Environment"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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