Kelp can help: Seaweed offers economic and environmental benefits (plus, it's delicious)

By Catherine Neville

People always ask me how I find the makers I cover in the show.

There's no one answer to this question. Some makers, like Peconic Escargot, which we covered in our first season, I stumble across on Instagram. Others, like Broken Arrow Ranch, which is located in Texas Hill Country, I find because I'm interested in covering a maker in a certain region. When I found Atlantic Sea Farms, I was specifically looking for a company that was producing kelp. (To stream the Atlantic Sea Farms episode, click here.)

Kelp has been cultivated for centuries in Asia and is widely consumed, but up until recently it hadn't really been cultivated in the States. Most of the seaweed we eat here in the U.S. is imported and has been dehydrated, re-hydrated, treated with dyes ... but there is a growing number of kelp farms on American coasts and when I started reading up on Atlantic Sea Farms, I knew that I wanted to tell their story.

Briana Warner, president and CEO of the company, has partnered with lobstermen up and down the coast of Maine to cultivate two varieties of seaweed which are hand harvested in late spring by simply pulling the kelp-covered lines out of the water and cutting the long, pliable leaves off with a knife. Lobster and kelp have opposite seasons, so farming kelp offers these Mainers an income stream during what has historically been their off season. It's a welcome infusion of cash, one that is helping to prop up the coastal economy.

The cultivation of this fast-growing, highly nutritious sea vegetable is creating new economic opportunities for fisheries in Maine while also benefiting the ocean. The Gulf of Maine is warming by about a hundredth of a degree every year, faster than 99 percent of all of the other bodies of water on the planet. As kelp grows, it pulls in carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous and outputs oxygen, creating a halo of remediated water around every farm. Bonus: it’s delicious. 

Atlantic Sea Farms offers three raw fermented seaweed products -- kimchi, 'kraut and a seaweed salad. My favorite is the kimchi. I adore the briny, spicy crunch it lends to grain bowls. It's perfect on eggs or alongside fried tofu. Try putting it in your bowl of ramen or just eat it out of the jar.

And let me know what you think! Email your recipes and photos and we'll choose our favorites to share here on the site.