Humble Beginnings…

After years of talking about doing something with seaweed I have finally made a website. Or rather paid for one.

Having tried to get a job involving seaweed without success, I decided instead to do some market research and go it alone.

I began by looking into the requirements to establish an offshore seaweed farm, and quickly decided that the cost of marine surveys, enrivonmental impact assessments, licences, insurance, legal advice, training, equipment and unialgal cultures would soon leave me with nothing to live on. Except maybe seaweed.

Conversations with people in the industry in the UK and Germany suggested that there is not yet a substantial market for seaweed products in the West. While seaweed is found in a plethora of everyday items, it is produced much more cheaply in the Far East and those supply chains that do exist are already well established.

However, with an increasing focus on local, foraged and hand-made produce (such as the Transition Movement), it’s clear there is still a niche for small-scale seaweed businesses in the UK.

I was lucky enough to visit the Isle of Ulbha this summer and discover that kelp used to be one of the main industries on the island. It was harvested, dried and burnt to make potash (potassium) for use in glassware and as lye in soap manufacturing, which eventually became redundant in the industrial era.

In August I took a trip to Ireland to check out some seaweed-related businesses. The first was an abalone farm near Galway, Mungo Murphy’s Seaweed Company. Sinéad and Cindy were both very welcoming and showed me round, even letting me observe the spawning process. They definitely have their niche, and complement the sale of abalone with seaweed products alongside foraging and tasting tours.

In and around Cork the Wild Atlantic Seaweed Baths company operate their pop-up hot tubs, and I was lucky enough to get a booking. The Fucus Serratus seaweed instantly went gloopy in the hot water and felt amazing on the skin. Definitely one to try at home, perhaps not with a 3000 litre kerosene boiler, though.

Finally, on a trip to Wales, I checked out Café Môr on the Pembrokeshire Coast, part of the Pembrokeshire Beachfood Company.

They’re continuing a history of seaweed harvesting (commonly used in the famous laverbread), with the last remaining thatched Seaweed Shack (the original article) just a stone’s throw from their catering trailer - now a mini museum reminding us of a pre-industrial past.

In October I relocated to Edinburgh and started experimenting with recipes such as sourdough, sauerkraut, pesto, hummus, chowder, burgers and smoothies. I have also been foraging nearby and gradually orientating myself with the East coast of Scotland.

Since then, I have been in touch with some artisans who use seaweed in their products. They have all told me that seaweed products are their best sellers.

It seems to me as though there are an increasing number of seaweed products being made by producers big and small, but the smaller ones struggle to sell in sufficient quantities to interest the larger retailers. And larger producers tend to use suppliers and ingredients of opaque provenance.

So I thought that a one-stop shop for seaweed products would give small producers a retail outlet. I could be the boots on the ground by literally bringing their products to market, contributing whatever products of my own along the way.