Researchers make waves with bacon-flavored seaweed

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LONDON: Researchers make waves with bacon-flavored seaweed, hope to bring products to market
Oregon State University researchers at the Hatfield Marine Science Center have made many dreams come true by discovering seaweed that has nutritional value akin to kale, but tastes like bacon.
“My first thought was that it couldn’t be real. But as I read more about it, I wanted to try it,” said Aman Deswal, a senior in mechanical engineering. “I love my veggies and I love my bacon. I got curious to get my hands on it.”
A new-patented strain of Pacific dulse, a native red alga found in the intertidal zone along the West Coast, has been cultivated for 20 years, initially for culturing abalone.
“We did not start working on dulse as human food until about a year ago,” said Chris Langdon, a professor of fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University. “At this time, a collaboration with Chuck Toombs, College of Business, and Michael Morrissey, Food Innovation Center in Portland, and myself was formed to develop a project that took dulse from the culture tank to the dinner plate.”
Dulse can be a valuable alternative crop in regions with a short supply of freshwater, because filtered saltwater can be used for its growth.
“One of the questions that anyone involved in agriculture and food science asks themselves is, how will you feed 10 billion people on the planet by 2050? Growing dulse in an aquaculture setting that has minimal environmental impacts and low energy inputs can be an important tool,” said Michael Morrissey, a professor in food science and technology and the director of OSU Food Innovation Center Experiment Station, FIC, in Portland.
In many parts of the world, dulse has been used as a food source. The aquatic plant has many nutrients that could make it a new alternative food source.
“Dulse is an excellent food- with up to 16% protein dry weight, unsaturated marine fatty acids, no cholesterol as found in bacon, minerals, including lots of iodine and antioxidants,” Langdon said.
“I was reading an angry email the other day saying how can we claim we discovered bacon-flavored dulse when his restaurant has been serving dulse in various forms, including a DLT, for over 15 years,” Morrissey said. “We agreed. Dulse has been harvested in the wild and consumed by humans for centuries in Scandinavia, Ireland, and other northern Atlantic Ocean countries and Canadian provinces.”