OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
The Summer Barometer
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DAILYBAROMETER
WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 2015 VOL. CXVIII, NO. 5
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Bacon
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Flavored Seaweed
Researchers make waves with bacon-flavored seaweed, hope to bring products to market By Anna Le THE SUMMER BAROMETER
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 though 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 mini-
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mal 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.” Morrissey said that dulse has been used on many dinner plates. “When Chuck found out that dried dulse from Maine sold at Whole Foods for about $60/lb. his business antennas perked up and Chris told him to tell us at the OSU Food Innovation Center in Portland,” Morrissey said. Toombs, Langdon and Morrissey hired Jason Ball, a research chef, to find some innovative ways to utilize dulse. By preparing the dulse in various dishes and products, Ball has found that sautéing brought out a savory bacon flavor that was unnoticeable in the fresh plant. “Jason first developed about 14
prototypes of dulse products from peanut brittle to salad dressing with forays into beer, bread, trail mix, etc.,” Morrissey said. “We had culinology event at the FIC with 17 panelists including food scientists, aquaculture scientists, chefs, food engineers, economists, product development experts, marketing experts, small business owners and consumer experts.” With many anticipating trying the bacon-flavored seaweed, Morrissey announced that consumers would be able to expect some products. “The dulse-sesame salad oil dressing and the dulse-rice cracker scored very high and we have decided to introduce these first into the marketplace, sometime this fall.” Since the news surfaced about the bacon-flavored seaweed, many have been skeptical about the product. “The new substitute for bacon might not be as good as said in reports, but there isn’t a way to say for sure. So before I actually try it, I’d rather be positive about it and give it a chance,” Deswal said. For Toombs, Morrissey and Langdon, the discovery of the seaweed is only the beginning. “Introducing new products into the marketplace takes time and one needs to have growing, harvesting, processing and distribution all coordinated,” Morrissey said. “Nonetheless it has been pretty exciting being in the middle of the Oregon-dulse story and we all feel it has a bright future as a new crop and food for the Pacific Northwest.”
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Anna Le, news reporter news@dailybarometer.com
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