You may have recently heard that researchers at Oregon State University were pleasantly surprised to find that, after working two decades with a seaweed species bred to feed abalone, they discovered that they were actually dealing with a delicious seaweed superfood called dulse that tastes like bacon when it’s fried.
Clearly, we needed to go deeper, so we talked to researchers and chefs who’ve been using kale’s funkier, cooler younger brother. Here’s what we learned:
Consider commenting on blogs whether they are DoFollow or NoFollow with the purchasing cialis aim of attracting direct links and reputation. The texts of ayurveda online viagra have described medicinal properties of sesame. viagra generic sale respitecaresa.org The muscles of the organs are getting extra blood and make the muscles relaxed. Kamagra on the other hand stays true to its title cheap; these pills are available for a fraction of what you will find elsewhere. viagra prescription
1. The bacon discovery was an accident.
“We’ve actually been growing dulse for 20 years here,” says Chris Langon, a professor at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. “Initially we were growing dulse for abalone. We only started growing it for human consumption in that last year or so.”
When Langon and fellow researchers realized that dulse had an appeal to humans, they started cooking it in dozens of different ways. Frying it gave the seaweed a very familiar, savory salty taste. “We didn’t start the project with the intent to create a bacon substitute,” says experimental chef Jason Ball, who has been working on the project at OSU for about a year. “That was actually more of a discovery that’s happened along the way. One of my favorite things about research is that often times the things you learn by accident can be equally as important as the things you set out to learn.”
2. They’ve tried it in a LOT of foods already.
Ball says they’ve made dulse ice cream and instant ramen, smoked dulse peanut popcorn brittle, and used dulse as an aroma hops substitute in beer to test to see if people would like it as part of existing foods. “The tactic I took with this was to try to introduce dulse through a familiar form or product, like a chip or dressing, as a sort of gateway. We’d love to expose dulse as an ingredient, just because it really is a versatile ingredient.” The second round of experiments, says Ball, will include substituting dulse in foods that commonly employ bacon, “BLT we tried, but we haven’t tried it on a burger with cheddar yet.” So get ready to see a burger with dulse and cheddar in a few years.
3. It’s possibly a super crop.
According to researchers, dulse could be very easy to produce anywhere. Supply is definitely a problem right now. “This whole kind of dulse mania has kind of caught us by surprise,” says Michael Morrissey, Director of the OSU Food Innovation Center. “We’re still in the research stage in terms of producing 20, 30 pounds a week, which is not going to satisfy market demand. Hopefully over the next year there will be a lot of interest in investment in ramping up production.”
Langdon says they’re working on cutting the only major cost of production, which is seawater. “Dulse is pretty thirsty in terms of its need for seawater,” says Langdon. One of his focuses for the next two years is creating a recirculation system where you don’t need much sea water to grow dulse. “That means you could grow it on land, on Mars.”
Sea water is also extremely easy to produce artificially and to alter in order to change flavor. “You can create seawater just by adding the right minerals and components,” says Morrissey. “Depending on what minerals you add to the water, you can change color, change flavor… in the future you can imagine tailor making your product depending on what the market demand is. That’s the beauty of agriculture.”
4. It’s a lot like lettuce.
Just like lettuce, dulse has a shelf life of about 10 days in the refrigerator. But it lasts much, much longer in a dried form. Because it is so savory and salty, it works well in it’s dried form as a flavoring for soups and other dishes.
5. You can already buy dulse.
We’re actually late to the party. Langdon says dulse has been eaten for hundreds of years. “The first written accounts were from the 15th century in Europe. You can buy it in whole foods stores in a dried form.”
Morrissey explains that dulse is “not really new in Scandanavia, or Ireland, or Scotland, or even New Brunswick,” where typically “it’s dried and added to soups and other products.”
5. Portland already has it in restaurants.
Iron Chef winner and award-winning pork chef Vitaly Paley owns several restaurants, including Imperial in Portland, where thanks to the team at OSU he’s been using dulse for just short of a year.
“They’ve used me as their beta tester,” he says. “I got a call one day from this farmer that wants to start mass growing this stuff and he asked me if I would be interested in seeing it.”
Paley has been using it when supply allows, with a lot of positive feedback. “We’ve tried using it a few different ways. I think people respond really well to putting new ideas into familiar surroundings,” says Paley, whose recipes have included yellow crudo on a bed of dulse and hamachi on ice with dulse, sea urchin vinaigrette, and shad bottarga. “It really provides an excellent texture and an extra dimension of that wonderful sea flavor.”
Paley also deep frys it. “We serve it with a little dipping sauce, almost like a spicy aioli deal, and people just dip into it and eat it. It crunches up in your mouth and disappears almost like a hot candy would. It’s not every day that a chef gets to work with a new ingredient like that.”
“I’ve had nothing but really positive response,” says Paley. “There was this group of young ladies that came in and I served them a little basket of fried dulse with the dipping sauce and they liked it so much they ordered it a second time.”
He’s looking forward to having more volume for more experiments. “I’d like to add it to salads… I’m hopeful that we can make this thing grow.” He compares it to the phenomenon of kale: “You know nobody ate kale until it became a thing.”
6. It’s really, really good for you. Possibly a super food.
For starters, it’s better for you than bacon. Dulse has tons of iodine, a super high protein content, and it’s a vegetable. Think of the possibilities: having it with your eggs in the morning, and not feeling that terrible medical guilt your doctor keeps laying on you.
7. It doesn’t taste exactly like bacon… but it’s a great substitute.
Langdon says before it’s fried it’s more salty than bacon-y. But the similarities are strong enough after it’s fried, that it has huge potential as a substitute. “I think it could be a lot broader than just for vegans and vegetarians. The Muslim community, and the Jewish community, and the Hindu community—none of those groups can eat pork—so those folks could be very interested in dulse. I’ve had people from Israel contacting me asking if they could grow it in hydroponics.”
“I don’t see a reason why we couldn’t make a bacon-less BLT. There are multiple ways we could serve it in traditional dishes in place of bacon,” says Paley.
No word yet on whether Guy Fieri has considered adding it to his trashcan nachos.