Yes, a healthy bacon.
It isn’t entirely new research, but it’s news to our ears that researchers at Oregon State have patented a form of red marine algae – basically, seaweed – that is super nutritious, grows very quickly, and of course the best part, tastes just like bacon.
Dulse grows in the wild along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, but the researchers created a new strain of dulse.
One of the researchers, Chris Langdon said that his team started growing the new strain while trying to find a good food source for abalone, so the exciting discovery that it could be an excellent food for people is a happy surprise.
“The original goal was to create a super-food for abalone, because high-quality abalone is treasured, especially in Asia,” Langdon said.
“We were able to grow dulse-fed abalone at rates that exceeded those previously reported in the literature. There always has been an interest in growing dulse for human consumption, but we originally focused on using dulse as a food for abalone.”
Langdon said that it’s “pretty amazing” stuff.
“When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed. And it’s a pretty strong bacon flavour.”
It has us intrigued!
This article originally appeared on Starts at 60.
