Food lovers might no longer have to choose between tastiness and healthiness. It also grows wild in the Pacific and can reportedly be purchased at some health food stores. It took 15 years for researchers to come up with Dulse, a form of seaweed. According to researchers, its nutritional value is two times more than a popular superfood kale and kale’s taste is also different.
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However, Chris Langdon, a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at OSU and long-time leader of the Molluscan Broodstock Program, together with other associates have been growing the newly patented dulse strain for over a decade. “But this stuff is pretty incredible”, he added.
Well whaddya know? Some brilliant scientists over in the U.S. have managed to create a strain of seaweed that apparently tastes like bacon when cooked – and it’s packed full of protein too.
The food hasn’t reached Irish shores just yet. What eventually was made was a new species of dulse, and when it is fried or smoke, it apparently tastes like real bacon. Oh, and it tastes like bacon. Originally, they intend to create a super food for commercially grow abalone – a mollusk of high value in Asia, Live Science has learned.
The variation looks like translucent red lettuce and is apparently an excellent source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants – containing up to 16% protein in dry weight.
The team began researching ways of farming the new strain of dulse to feed abalone, but they quickly realized its potential to do well in the human-food market. Another OSU faculty member, Chuck Toombs, had the idea for a new industry for Oregon and worked with OSUs Food Innovation Center in Portland, university officials said.
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A special strain of dulse is a new “super food” patented by the school – and is now being investigated as a specialty crop that could potentially become a whole new industry in the Beaver State. The researchers have stated that the variety they have developed can be farmed and eaten fresh. Langdon says he’s now growing about 20-30 pounds of the stuff a week, but he plans to more than triple the production.
