Living on the island of Ireland, we are surrounded by water. We have all been to a beach that has been littered with ‘sandy browny/green stuff’. That ‘stuff’ is seaweed.

There are so many uses for seaweed including cosmetics, seaweed baths, medicinal and many more. Then there’s food. Asian countries (especially Japan) have been using various forms of seaweed for many years in dishes such as sushi (nori), dashi stock (kombu) and miso soup (wakame).

Islander Seafood has been farming three different types of kelp for the past 3 years.

• Saccarina altissima (sugar kelp)
• Laminaria Digitata (kombu)
• Alaria esculenta (wakame)

They supply a number of food manufacturers with cuts such as tagliatelle & noodle cut, salad cut and minced cut.  They also make their own kelp pesto (delicious).

I had the pleasure of joining some of the UK and Ireland’s best chefs and food influencers for a day on Rathlin Island to discover this amazing product.  This was my first time on Rathlin Island, but I will definitely be back to discover it more.