Chris Langdon and colleagues, Oregon State University (OSU), USA, developed a strain of dulse (Palmaria mollis), a red seaweed, which tastes like bacon. The new strain grows more rapidly than wild dulse and is packed with minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants and its dry weight contains up to 16 % protein.
The marine algae known as dulse grows in the wild in North America along both the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. It is been used as a food in northern Europe for centuries. In its seaweed form, it’s harvested on a small scale and sold as a cooking ingredient or dried as a nutritional supplement.
Langson has two large tanks of the bacon-flavored dulse growing outside his office, which produce about 20–30 pounds of the seaweed each week. The marine science department is working with the business school to explore developing a line of specialty foods. They also have developed a dulse variety that can be farmed. They think this has potential for an entire new aquaculture industry.
- Presented at the Fancy Food Show 2015, San Francisco, USA
- Expect to See Seaweed on the Menue
Peg Herring,
Oregon Progress 2015. - Enhanced production of Pacific dulse (Palmaria mollis) for co-culture with abalone in a land-based system,
Carl L Demetropoulos, Chris Langdon,
Aquaculture 2004, 235(1), 433–455.
DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2003.09.010 - Carl L. Demetropoulos, Christopher J. Langdon, Palmaria algal strains and methods for their use, US 6258588 B1, 2001.
