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A hot new food trend is back to ruin an already bad year, and it's more dangerous than it sounds at first. Look, we're all bored of our own food and running out of recipe ideas, but there are limits.
Back in 2016, YouTube chef Jonathan Marcus decided to try and deep fry water. He didn't think it was a great idea. In fact, he created it for the event "Stupid Shit No One Needs and Terrible Ideas Hackathon 2.0". But he was nevertheless keen to see if it would work, and lo and behold, it did.
To make the deep-fried water, he used calcium alginate as a membrane to contain the water, before breadcrumbing it. At the time, he gave everyone a warning not to bother trying it for themselves.
"This is potentially very dangerous," he wrote on his channel. "If water leaks out while the sphere is frying in hot oil, it may explode sending scalding oil everywhere. Do not attempt without proper safety precautions. Do not consume until cooled down or you may get burned. Also they don't taste particularly good."
Years later, TikTok and other YouTubers have taken up the trend.
While it's all in good fun, and we're pretty sure nobody is doing this for actual flavor, it's probably best not to actually attempt it yourself at home. If the membrane and delicious breadcrumbs were to break, the water will expand rapidly and displace the oil, which can cause a life-threatening (if aesthetically pleasing) big ball of fire.
