India’s untapped ocean ingredient: The rise of native seaweed

On a lukewarm February morning, we thrust into Sindhudurg from Goa’s Manohar International Airport. Barely a fewer kilometres from the bustle of the terminal, the scenery opens up into rolling expanses of green.

I get astatine Coco Shambhala connected Sindhudurg’s Bhogave formation — our location for the adjacent 2 days, and walk the day soaking successful the lush greenery. Only the adjacent greeting bash I realise that the wood present is not conscionable connected land. It exists underwater too. Along this coastline, seaweed grows successful quiescent abundance, forming dense underwater “forests” that relation arsenic ecosystems successful their ain right.

India has much than 800 varieties of seaweed on its coastline (as documented by the world journal Botanica Marina, published by De Gruyter Brill), with a important attraction on the Konkan. Traditionally, erstwhile it washed ashore, it was gathered arsenic compost for coconut and mango trees. But it ne'er entered Indian kitchens. “Locals are not alert of seaweed. Most radical don’t adjacent cognize it’s edible, truthful it’s ne'er been portion of the accepted fare,” says Suhas Malewadkar, F&B manager, Coco Shambhala, who is besides autochthonal of Goa.

Into the intertidal

At Bhogave formation the adjacent morning, the tide has retreated conscionable capable to exposure the rocks, and what grows on them. Waiting for america is Gabriella D’Cruz, founder, The Good Ocean, which works with section harvesters to proviso food-grade Indian seaweed to chefs.

Diving suit on, sickle successful manus and a mesh container looped implicit her shoulder, she wades into the water. Moving cautiously crossed the rocks, she scans earlier cutting the seaweed conscionable supra the holdfast — the portion that anchors it to the rock. “If you instrumentality it from the base, it won’t regenerate,” she explains. Local harvesters travel strict guidelines truthful that determination is nary harm to the chaotic stock. They are besides trained astir seaweed diverseness and reproductive cycles to guarantee agelong word extortion of the forest.

What I mightiness person dismissed arsenic algae begins to instrumentality signifier arsenic she walks america done each assortment she has collected. There is abundant sargassum, heavy and brown; oversea grapes clustered similar tiny greenish pearls; fans of dictyota and padina; and ribboned spatoglossum. She hands maine a strand of oversea grapes to sensation — it bursts with citrusy, saline freshness.

Sargassum, she explains, is the taxon she focusses connected arsenic it grows abundantly on this coast. “Most of it goes into agar, carrageenan and sodium alginate,” she says — hydrocolloids that softly look successful mundane foods. Whole, traceable seaweed for chefs simply was not portion of the system. That is the spread she is trying to bridge. Today, The Good Ocean supplies food-grade sargassum astatine ₹1,920 per kilogram and is the lone supplier offering it successful a cleaned, traceable form, dissimilar astir seaweed successful the marketplace that is sold unprocessed.

Once harvested, the seaweed goes done a cautious cleaning and drying process that preserves it for up to 2 years, erstwhile stored successful a chill and adust place. Instead of being sun-dried, it is dried successful dehumidifier rooms that region moisture portion locking successful nutrients and preventing UV damage.

For the harvesters moving with The Good Ocean, this increasing culinary curiosity is besides creating a much viable livelihood. They gain astir ₹100 per kilogram of freshly harvested seaweed — importantly higher than the ₹14–15 per kilogram often paid for semi-dried seaweed successful parts of coastal Tamil Nadu.

Harvesting takes spot aboriginal successful the greeting erstwhile the water is calmer. Workers usage masks, snorkels and an inflatable nett ringing to cod seaweed, and are paid connected the aforesaid day.

The sea’s pantry

Later, we caput retired to oversea successful a tiny sportfishing boat. Two section fishermen gaffe into the h2o without immoderate gear, resurfacing minutes aboriginal with oversea urchins balanced cautiously successful their palms.

“Sea urchins are thing radical successful Sindhudurg bash eat. They’re usually held implicit blistery coals to pain disconnected the thorns, past cracked unfastened and eaten consecutive from the shell,” shares Suhas.

Back astatine Coco Shambhala, a seaweed risotto infused with sargassum sits alongside crab and ricotta ravioli finished with a airy food condiment enriched with that morning’s oversea urchins.

For Giles Knapton, founder, Coco Shambhala, the transportation with seaweed runs deep. “I grew up with seaweed,” helium says. His household location successful Ireland was adjacent to the beach, and seaweed would beryllium laid retired connected the roadworthy to dry. “You’d instrumentality it consecutive disconnected and devour it arsenic it was.”

For Giles, seaweed is besides the motion of a steadfast ecosystem, truthful it shouldn’t beryllium overused. “But successful tiny volumes, similar we bash here, it’s sustainable.”

Guests astatine Coco Shambhala already person the accidental to harvest oversea urchins and larn to navigator them, and seaweed foraging whitethorn soon go portion of that experience.

From shoreline to plate

In Mumbai, chefs similar Varun Totlani, caput cook astatine Masque and Bar Paradox, person besides begun moving with seaweed varieties specified arsenic ulva (sea lettuce) and sargassum swartzii.

“The ocean, contempt being specified a ample portion of our geography, felt underexplored successful edifice kitchens,” helium says. Marine ingredients travel with built-in salinity, umami and texture. “They respond straight to tides, upwind and geography, which means you can’t enforce excessively overmuch connected them.”

Seaweed is besides opening to find its mode into bars. “Seaweed has a precise distinctive flavour illustration — it’s intensely savoury and tin verge connected somewhat fishy — truthful it tends to beryllium a love-or-hate constituent successful drinks,” says Pankaj Balachandran, founder, Boilermaker Goa, Quinta Cantina and The Lab Goa. “We’ve experimented with it successful cocktails before, including a seaweed martini with cacao liqueur.” Instead of making it the ascendant flavour, they person utilized it subtly arsenic tinctures oregon bitters to adhd layers of umami.

The communicative of Indian seaweed is, successful galore ways, astir recognising thing that has been astir for billions of years.