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Though it seems the masses have not tired of avocado toast just yet, another dish has challenged its slot as the trendiest toast and taken the Internet by storm this year: mermaid toast. Chances are high that you’ve seen one (or several) iterations of this beautiful, ocean-inspired toast (or its sister creation, unicorn toast) on Instagram, but you might still be wondering how it’s made and what’s in it.
Adeline Waugh of @vibrantandpure, the food stylist behind the trend, said, “Ever since I realized that adding beet juice to food would turn it into the most magnificent shade of hot pink, I was hooked. My goal is to take healthy food and make it fun and exciting, brightening it up with a few (or many) pops of color.”
First came unicorn toast and then, as she continued to play with a mixture of beet juice and cream cheese, adding additional colors using real food ingredients, mermaid toast was born. “I simply wanted to create something new beyond unicorn toast. I’m always trying to evolve and think outside the box when it comes to food,” she said. “I suspected that the blue and green shades from chlorophyll and spirulina would blend together nicely and create a dreamy aquatic look. I decided to name it ‘mermaid toast’ to keep up the tradition of toasts named after mythical creatures.”
As for how to make your own version at home, Waugh said, “My advice is, throw caution to the wind. I’ve realized that when I’m trying too hard to do some specific design, it never looks good.” It is toast painting, after all.
She uses Kite Hill almond-milk cream cheese (but any type of cream cheese, or even thick plain yogurt, works) and makes the colors with beet juice (pink), turmeric root (yellow and orange), chlorophyll drops (green), freeze-dried blueberry powder (purple), and spirulina powder (blue). For each, use a very small amount of the ingredient and then add slowly from there to get your desired color.
Start with your desired type of toast (she likes sprouted flaxseed) and brush it with plain white cream cheese as a base. Then add dollops of the colored cream cheeses and start swirling them around on your toast canvas using chopsticks or a butter knife. “I try to slather the cream cheese on in a swooping motion to mimic waves,” she explained.
Then, top it with gold-leaf flakes or pearly pastel sprinkles to make it extra pretty. Or she suggests cutting up fruits and veggies in star shapes for added appeal. Whatever you do, just have fun with your creation.
“Brightly colored toast named after a mythical creature is not a serious or important matter, but with everything going on in the world, if someone can feel happy to look at a pretty piece of toast, then why not?” she asked.