Move over, kale – there’s a new leaf in town and, unlike you, it doesn’t need a host of herbs or spices to make it palatable. It packs its own punch: a pure, slightly salty and deeply umami flavour that could only come from one of the life’s few remaining mysteries: the sea. In short, kale, you’ve been out-greened by seaweed – and not the ‘seaweed’ (cabbage, really) you’ll find on Chinese takeaway menus either. This is the real deal, sustainably grown and harvested around the Scottish Outer Hebrides by a man who calls himself Dr Seaweed.
His name is Craig Rose – and he actually is a doctor, having done a PhD in marine biology before branching out into seaweed research. He’s spent decades immersed in the potential of seaweed for sustainable food production, and for human health. His company Seaweed and Co came about when he met some chaps cultivating seaweed in the Isle of Lewis – ‘predominantly for agriculture, animal feed and horticulture – for which it is really good,’ he says, but his interest lay in its culinary and nutritional qualities. ‘It’s rich in a huge range of minerals, trace elements, vitamin groups, amino acids and essential fatty acids.’ Research is ongoing – Craig is no quack, and wants every health claim to be peer reviewed, evidence-based and validated – but benefits the EU have approved include improvements to metabolism, thyroid health and cognitive function. ‘It’s a great vegan source of iodine – something British women’s diets in particular are deficient in,’ he explains.
