Waitrose Need No Kelp Staying on Top of Food Trend

Cornwall’s hand harvesting seaweed company The Cornish Seaweed Co launch fresh kelp in Waitrose supermarkets

The Cornish Seaweed Company is one of Cornwall’s most revolutionary companies, winning Cornish Business of the Year last year. In just over 2 weeks, the company will be launching freshly harvested Cornish Kombu (a type of kelp) into 139 Waitrose stores across the UK.

Commonly seen as something lining the beaches, particularly after storms batter the coast, Kombu grows in huge forests, rather like rainforests under the sea. It is a rich and diverse habitat for sea creatures and some species can grow up to 100 feet tall. That’s the size of Big Ben! Waitrose is the only supermarket in the UK to be selling fresh Kombu, and as such shoppers can be some of the first to recreate the dishes popularised by chefs such as Nathan Outlaw, Jamie Oliver, Raymond Blanc, and Paul Ainsworth.

Also known as Kombu, Kelp seaweed is a popular and versatile ingredient with superfood status. It can be fried or baked into seaweed crisps, added a vegetable to curries, used to replace lasagna sheets, make into a pesto or added to soups and stews for its rich umami flavour.

Bursting with a multitude of health benefits, Kombu has a very high iodine content which helps to control the metabolic rate of the body and maintains healthy skin (along with aiding weight loss). Jamie Oliver cited Kombu as a contributing factor in his weight loss last year.

Firmly committed to sustainability, the company have implemented a harvesting policy. This means that they rotate their harvesting area and only ever cut part of each plant, using scissors, which allows the seaweeds to regenerate; a process which Caro Warwick-Evans, co-founder, said is essential for the seaweed to be classified as organic. Ethical handling of produce and minimal electrical input for the processing contributes to its organic standard. A first for the company, supplying Waitrose will see a team of divers harvesting Kombu from deep under The Manacles Marine Conservation Zone.

Seaweed started as a food trend in 2015, being included in menus across Cornwall and the UK. Of this, triple Michelin star chef Nathan Outlaw said, “The work that the people at The Cornish Seaweed Company are doing has challenged the way I cook.  Their produce has become an integral part of Cornish cuisine and I would hope that in the future, their seaweeds become a product used regularly in every household.  They have taken a completely natural

resource and, using sustainable harvesting methods, made it accessible for the catering industry and home cooks alike.  I feel that their efforts to harness this nutritious product and educate people about the benefits of using locally sourced seaweed in their cooking are to be commended.  They are amazing!”

Being the first supermarket to stock the fresh ingredient puts Waitrose ahead of this food trend and customers can experience seaweed that has come from deep under The Manacles Marine Conservation Zone, fresh on their plates.

To find out more about seaweed, please visit http://cornishseaweed.co.uk/

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Notes for editors

The Cornish Seaweed Company was created in 2012, and is the only licensed seaweed harvesting firm for food consumption in England.

Laminaria digitata

Typical Nutritional value per 100g dry weight

Kombu            Content            % RDA

Energy 589 kJ  –

Energy 140 kCal          –

Moisture          9.9 g    –

Protein 8.7 g    –

Carbohydrates 24 g     –

of which sugars           0 g       –

Dietary Fiber   33.2 g  –

Fat, total          1.1 g    –

Saturated fat    0.3 g    –

Mono unsaturated fat   0.19 g  –

poly unsaturated fat     0.21 g  –

Sodium            2300 mg          –

Magnesium      700 mg            187%

Phosphorus      120 mg            17%

Potassium        4600 mg          –

Calcium           800 mg            100%

Manganese      0.4 mg 20%

iron      5.9 mg 42%

Copper            0.4 mg 40%

Zinc     3.9 mg 39%

Iodine  433 mcg          289%

Vitamin A – retinol      20 mcg            3%

Vitamin D – calciferol 2 mcg  40%

Vitamin E – tocopherols          0.5 mg 4%

Vitamin B3 – niacin    2.9 mg 18%

Vitamin B7 – biotin (H)          32 mcg            64%

Kelp recipes

Miso Soup

8 inch strip kelp

1 pint water

1 teaspoon miso

2 spring onions, chopped

100g tofu chopped

Any vegetables chopped

Brimming with vitamins, minerals and probiotics, miso soup is one of the healthiest ways to consume kelp. In Japan it is used to settle the stomach after consuming raw fish.

Cut kelp into 4 inch pieces. Add the water to a saucepan. Soften the miso paste in the water as it warms. Add spring onions, tofu, any other vegetables and chopped kelp and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve hot.

Crunchy Camembert Wedges with Kelp

1 whole camembert cut into 8 wedges

8 X 4 inch pieces kelp

Small bowl flour

1 egg, beaten

Fine breadcrumbs

Oil for deep frying

Wrap each wedge in the kelp. This is best achieved by lining the side of the triangle flat to a strip of kelp and folding. When wrapped, panné them by coating each one in flour, egg and then breadcrumbs.

When these are ready, deep fry them at 180° for about 3 minutes until golden. They should be oozy and gooey inside.

Mariner’s Cannelloni

Kelp grows in such wonderfully thick sheets that it can be used as a healthy, gluten free pasta substitute, which can be filled with all sorts of different things. We’ve opted for a delicious mariner’s blend here for the perfect marriage of seaweed and other seafood, with a delicious tomato sauce.

8 wide Kelp Strips cut to about 4 inches

300g Potted Crab Meat

1 chilli, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

Lemon juice and zest of ½ lemon

150g Mascarpone 

Olive Oil

1 onion, diced

1 tin tomatoes

Glug red wine

Sea salt

Mix the crabmeat, chilli, 1 clove of garlic , lemon juice and zest with the mascarpone and refrigerate.

Meanwhile make the marinara sauce by sweating the onions and garlic in olive oil and adding the can of tomatoes once these are soft. Add a good glug of red wine and reduce for 20 minutes on a low heat. Season to taste.

Fill each of the kelp strips with a little of the crab mixture and roll into a cannelloni-esque tube. Place these into a baking tray and cover with marinara sauce.

Bake for 20 mins in a pre heated oven at 180° and serve, garnished with plenty of chopped parsley.

Contact

Issued by The Cornish Seaweed Company.

Please direct press enquiries to

Press Officer Laura Barnes. email: press@cornishseaweed.co.uk or Tel: 07729263818

Laura Barnes

Press Officer for The Cornish Seaweed Company

07729263818

press@cornishseaweed.co.uk

The Cornish Seaweed Company is a small team of dedicated hand harvesters gathering seaweeds bursting with nutrition and flavour from the UK's most southerly peninsula