It’s a SHORE Thing

By Janice Hopper

SHORE has been growing, harvesting and processing its Scottish seaweed since 2016, working to create an edible seaweed industry in Scotland that’s sustainable, positive for the coastal environment and beneficial for local rural communities. Today it produces a range of chips, clusters, pestos and tapenades that can be purchased across the UK.

Founded by Keith Paterson and Peter Elbourne, the inspiration for the business was looking for sustainable foods that could be grown and harvested in Scotland that met the increasing consumer demand for heathier, plant-based diets. The duo hit on seaweed as it requires zero input to grow (no land, fresh water, feed or fertilisers) and soaks up oceanic CO² in the process.

The pair’s seaweed vision was always to combine wild harvesting alongside farming, so the first step was to find the best place in Scotland to harvest and grow quality seaweed. Peter, a marine ecologist by training, led a team of scientists scouring the coastline for locations. The search led to Caithness, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the North Sea. SHORE secured harvest licences with landowners that include strict quotas regarding how much seaweed can be picked every year. They are now licenced to harvest seventeen different types of seaweed, using over a dozen separate sites a short journey from the company’s factory in Wick.

The first harvest took place in March 2016. The team grows, forages and hand-picks a range of low shore and high shore seaweeds all year round in all weathers, including sea spaghetti, Atlantic wakame, kelp, sugar kelp and toothed wrack. One of their key species is dulse - a small, dark red seaweed that grows rapidly in the autumn.

SHORE’s research into seaweed farming also started in 2016, incorporating trials with the Scottish Association of Marine Science. The farming focus is on selected species of seaweed that are in high demand yet more difficult to harvest from the wild, which means that farming and wild harvesting will continue side by side. Ropes are seeded in the autumn, yielding two-metre long plants in the spring. SHORE harvested over seventy tons of seaweed in 2021 and are aiming for one hundred tonnes in 2022.

After harvest, the seaweed is sorted, washed and dried at low temperatures to preserve its nutrients back at the Wick factory. It’s then milled to a range of sizes and stored for year-round supply. The factory processing sounds like a well oiled machine but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

One of SHORE’s early production challenges occurred with their first harvest in 2016. The day’s haul was confidently loaded into the drying chambers, but the team returned the following day to discover damp seaweed. So began the journey of perfecting the art of seaweed drying! Getting the drying time right and constantly improving efficiency is essential to maximising output and keeping up with increasing demand.

Another challenge is timing and weather. Each seaweed has a season; some species can be harvested for perhaps six months of the year, but most are in peak condition for a couple of months. The harvesting team have to schedule their work around the tides, planning months ahead around the strong spring tides when the lowest rocky shelves are exposed. It’s clear that SHORE’s team must know the terrain, the tides, the wildlife and different seaweed species exceptionally well. As well as health and safety regarding themselves and their colleagues, the team is trained regarding local wildlife and wildlife codes. SHORE also monitor their harvesting sites to manage local plant diversity and maintain sustainability.

And what about the product itself? How does a batch of dried seaweed transform into a tempting product that graces health food shops across the country? The team started with research, initially finding out that consumers were interested in seaweed as an ingredient, but a lack of understanding of how to cook seaweed created a large barrier to buying it. The mission became to use seaweed to benefit foods that consumers are familiar and comfortable with, such as snacks.

The team’s research discovered that 74% of consumers would be interested in buying a mainstream seaweed snack. Not only has the UK notably high snack consumption levels, but consumers are constantly seeking new flavours, plus there’s been a boon in healthier plant-based snacks. The health food market is flourishing and seaweed taps into that consumer base because it’s rich in antioxidants, iodine and prebiotic fibre, plus it’s low in fat.

After the research was complete, it was a case of nailing the finished product. SHORE embarked on nine months of recipe work and ‘trial and error’ to get the flavour right; finding the right balance to highlight seaweed’s ‘umami’ flavour, without it being ‘fishy’. Packaging, product design, distribution and marketing were also part of the process.

The SHORE product range was launched in late 2020, with the chips available in Coop and Sainsbury’s in Scotland, and the pesto and tapenades distributed to health stores, delis and farm shops. Securing a listing for SHORE’s chips with Holland & Barrett was one of the team’s biggest successes to date. Today, the team supply seaweed to other food and drink manufacturers in Scotland for biscuits, seafood and gin, and the company is in talks with UK-wide supermarket chains about stocking the range this year. As well as expanding production at Wick, there are plans to increase farming activity in the coming years.

So after a truly intense few years, how do the team relax and treat themselves? Apparently Peter enjoys the heat of the Sweet Sriracha Chips washed down with an ice cold beer, and Keith savours Lightly Salted Seaweed chips with a G&T. Cheers!

Peter Elbourne with Mike Harper and Paul Henderson

Kyle Macleod harvesting seaweed

Handful of Seaweeed

shoreseaweed.com

Janice Hopper is a freelance writer based in Aberdeen who’s written features, copy and social media text for a range of publications and clients. Her Scottish family travel blog, Scots2Travel.com, covers child-friendly short breaks, attractions and activities.