Empty vegetarian capsules

I'd gone to the local Bread and Circus just to pick up Parmalat brand tomatoes and L'Explorateur cheese when the empty vegetarian capsules caught my eye. They sat in plastic bags not far from the copies of Mother Jones and Massage Therapist at the checkout. They demanded a second look.

"Empty Vegetarian Capsules. Size 00," read the packaging. From this label I found that they're made by a company called "Solaray," whose slogan is "The Promise of the Rainbow." They're packed by weight, although no weight is given. Their one ingredient is vegetable cellulose. That was about all I could figure out from the package, and already a number of questions were forming in my mind:

With what does one fill an empty vegetarian capsule? I'm guessing something else vegetarian, and probably nonpoisonous, but that leaves a lot of room for creative — and hopefully tasty — improvisation.

Are there empty meat capsules? Perhaps made out of tripe, or maybe thinly sliced pancetta?

Why are they sold in the checkout lane? Are empty vegetarian capsules the sort of impulse buy you throw into your 100%-post-consumer green recycled plastic basket while waiting for the customer ahead of you to explain that it's leeks that are on sale, not Vidalia onions? "Mom, please could we get some capsules?"

These questions drove me to bring home a package of the translucent oblong shells and try them, although what I'd be trying was very much up in the air.

A visit to the website listed on the package, Nutraceutical.com, wasn't entirely helpful. The product information page seemed to assume that I already knew what to do with empty vegetarian capsules. The only thing it had to say about them was that "our 100% Vegetarian capsules are produced from cellulose rich in dietary fiber and neutral to digestion and absorption. They are stable in a wide range of environmental conditions."

A Google search on "empty vegetarian capsules" was a little more informative. The best information on the subject seems to be from a site called "Hepatitis Central (TM)." According to this site, "Herbs can be powdered in a blender and put in capsules. Health food stores offer gelatin and vegetarian empty capsules that can be filled." It also contained an interesting bit about "mini hand 'machines,'" but that's another review.

Of course, there's no better way to find out about empty vegetarian capsules than just trying them. They're something like the wrappers on rice candy, except they don't dissolve as quickly and they taste more of plastic. The two parts of a capsule can be easily taken apart and put back together again, and then attached with just a little bit of water.

So what can you fill them with? Pretty much anything!

You can now have anything you ever wanted in pill form. Looking around my kitchen, I see that I can make tarragon pills, salt pills, heavy cream pills and breadcrumb pills. You can pipe frosting into the capsules, or fill them with caramel sauce or melted chocolate, for a dessert you don't even have to taste. You can make vegetarian capsule blintzes by filling them with ricotta cheese and topping them with blueberry sauce, or vegetarian capsule burritos with refried beans. If you hate the taste of alcohol, you can make vodka pills — although I found that the cellulose coating dissolves pretty quickly.

But stay away from the empty gelatin capsules. That's some nasty stuff.

— Julia Lipman (julia@flakmag.com)