Here's a useful product that has been making the rounds on the Internet in Japan.

It looks very similar to Riyoko Ikeda's famous shojo manga about Marie Antoinette, The Rose of Versailles, but what exactly is it?

Take a look at this picture.

Here's a bookshelf lined with the Japanese original The Rose of Versailles comics. If you can read Japanese, you'll recognize it as ベルサイユのばら berusaiyu no bara, bara meaning "rose" in Japanese. But the one on the right seems thicker than the others. If you take a closer look at the title, you'll see that it actually says ベルサイユのわた berusaiyu no wata. わた wata means cotton or wadding.

When you open it up, you will find an unusual white fiber sheet with a fluffy texture similar to cotton candy. This is actually a remarkable product that can absorb cooking oil in no time at all so you can dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner. As you may know, pouring oil and grease down the drain not only clogs up your pipes but the city sewer mains as well, so it's better to dispose of it in the trash.

By the way, if you thought the pun with wata was a bit of a stretch, there's another one buried in the Japanese spelling of Versailles, berusaiyu. As it turns out, 採油 saiyu means "absorbing oil."

Berusaiyu no Wata was introduced in the economic information program "World Business Satellite" (TV Tokyo), which promptly caused a sensation on social media.

Then in August 2020, NHK reported that Magic Fiber would be used in Mauritius, where a Japanese cargo ship ran aground and spilled a large amount of oil.

Officially called Magic Fiber and made by Japanese nanofiber manufacturer M-TEchX Inc., this is a new ultra-fine microfiber that repels water and rapidly absorbs and retains oil. Berusaiyu no Wata is the consumer-oriented packaging of the product designed for use in cooking oil disposal and grease trap cleaning.

Here you can see how efficiently it works in a glass of water and olive oil:

Some people don't fry food at home very often because of the hassle of cleaning up the oil and the mess that it makes in the kitchen.

However, a quick wipe with Berusaiyu no Wata will quickly absorb the oil left in the pan after frying (or pot, if you're deep-frying) as well as oily stains on kitchen surfaces.

Let them eat kara-age!

A writer at our sister site Grape was so impressed by the video showing a large amount of oil being sucked up in an instant that she immediately got some Berusaiyu no Wata to try it herself!

As the name suggests, it looks like soft wadding and can be easily torn into any size you want by hand. A whole box of it (20 g / 0.7 oz) can absorb as much as 500 ml (16.9 fl oz) of oil.

"I've always avoided making fried food at home because of the hassle of cleaning up afterward, but for dinner today, I put my trust in Berusaiyu no Wata and tried my hand at some kara-age fried chicken! It was a huge hit with my family. 'It's my favorite,' my kids said. And my husband even asked me: 'Can you make this every week?'..."

After a delicious meal with the family, it was the moment of truth....

"A lot of oil remained in the frying pan, and the stove area was stained with splattered oil. I couldn't help but sigh at the miserable sight."

Berusaiyu no Wata to the rescue.

It was quite a lot of oil, so she tore off a good amount and dipped it into the pan...

"What?! The oil is disappearing like crazy...!"

The oil disappeared into the fluffy white wadding and the frying pan was empty in no time at all.

Just a dab of dishwashing detergent and you're done. You just can't achieve results like these with tissues or kitchen paper. With this, you can enjoy fried food more easily!

We recommend tearing it into one-inch pieces and storing it in a container for convenient use.

A small amount of Berusaiyu no Wata is surprisingly absorbent, making it an economical and, daresay, revolutionary oil cleaning product. Vive la Magic Fiber!

One box of Berusaiyu no Wata absorbs 500 ml (16.9 fl oz) of oil. To try it out, the writer poured some leftover olive oil into a bowl of water and soaked the wadding in it.

The white wadding turned yellow in an instant! All that was left in the bowl was clear water.

Berusaiyu no Wata is useful not only for cleaning in the kitchen, but also for disposing of aromatic oils in oil diffusers, for car and motorcycle maintenance, and many other applications where oil or grease needs to be taken care of.

A handy item that makes cleaning up oil fast and easy, and without any mess. Why not try it for yourself?