Discover a grass that tastes like ... chips

It's hard to believe, but many types of grass are able to produce sugars, proteins, and even salt from tiny bacteria on the leaf surface.

Right from a young age, one of us must have been taught not to taste anything in the laboratory. But if you grow up and become a scientific researcher, this rule seems to become "obsolete".

Spinifex grass fields in the Australian desert.(Photo: Stuff).

While classifying native grasses, an Australian scientist has discovered some grasses that taste like salty taste. And of course, they discovered this was precisely thanks to sucking on their hands.

Just like many other interesting accidental findings, this finding comes as a surprise when scientists are working overtime late at night. At that time, scientists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) were processing grass specimens in the laboratory.

"Some of us accidentally sucked our hands and suddenly found the taste," said biologist Matthew Barrett.

The grasses treated by the researchers were all spinifex grasses , belonging to the genus Triodia, a flowering plant in the Hoa Thao family. This grass is symbolic for Australia. They are known for their durability and resistance to drought despite the worst drought in arid lands in mainland Australia.

Scientists accidentally discovered that this grass tastes like . chips.(Photo: ScienceAlert).

There are at least 64 different Triodia species found in Australia, although the researchers think this number is even larger, because some species have only a small branch and hide in difficult-to-reach locations .

New discoveries and genetic adjustments are altering the classification system of these weeds. During a revision of the classification system, the team happened to discover the outstanding taste of one of the new species they described. Strange flavors appear from tiny droplets of liquid on young grass stems.

"It seems very difficult to observe when you first see it, but if you get closer, you'll see it has a lot of sparkling drops on the trunk , " Barrett said. "When you lick them, they taste like salt and chips."

Scented grass - Triodia scintillans , currently one of eight new species described by Barrett and a team of UWA graduate students.

In their study, the researchers noted that flavorful drops found in grass " may exist in the form of a viscous liquid or become a crystal after drying the sample". However, this substance can be dissolved in water and can be washed off the leaves.

Indigenous Australians have used the plastic of spinifex as a binder for thousands of years.(Photo: ABC).

Many types of grass are able to produce sugars, proteins, and even salt from tiny bacteria on their leaf surfaces. The researchers hypothesize that the droplets they find on T.scintillans are similar to this ability of grasses.

While scientists use sparkling droplets as part of a new grass description, the flavor of the grass is not mentioned in the study. But the taste finding complements the interesting things about this iconic Australian grass.

Indigenous Australians already know about some of its smart features. This is evidenced when they use spinifex plastic as a binder for thousands of years.

Science is also catching up with this trend when last year, an Australian team of researchers discovered a way to extract nano-cellulose in spinifex and use it to create sustainable natural latex rubber.

The study is published in Australia's Botany magazine.