
OSU’s Chris Langdon and his amazing discovery, dulse, the seaweed that tastes like bacon
Vegans rejoice, because scientists have discovered and perfected a seaweed that tastes like bacon and it will change the face of vegan cuisine for good.
People love bacon, with their eggs in the morning, in hamburgers, on pizza and pretty much anything you can think of. But while bacon may taste amazing, having sizable amounts of it will not keep you healthy. Well, now there is hope, because a team of researchers from Oregon State University have found a plant, a seaweed strain out of all things, that has that bacon taste when it’s fried, grilled or smoked.
Actually, the texture might make it the perfect thing to be the vegan bacon. This would not be the first time when seaweed replaces meat in vegan dishes. The seaweed strains who bear that sea flavor are particularly good for replacing fish in meat-free dishes.
And while dulse, this new bacon seaweed, might be a hit among vegans and vegetarians, it stands to become quite popular among those people whose doctor advised to stop eating the real actual crispy pork delight. Like Sweet’n Low and Coke Light, it will not be as tasty as the original, but it will make life without it more bearable. Furthermore, a salad that tastes like bacon might make non-meat dishes more attractive for the insatiable carnivores out there who are struggling to eat their greens.
Dulse is actually not a newly discovered food, as the seaweed is a wild species that grows along the coastline of the Pacific and the Atlantic. It is a red seaweed strain and it is a crunchy version of red lettuce in appearance. It’s been used in dry form as an ingredient in certain foods, but it has not yet received the attention it is worthy of.
Chris Langdon is a professor at the Fisheries and Wildlife Department at OSU and he discovered the amazing seaweed as part of an entirely different project. Initially, it was being used as abalone feed and Langdon was working on improving its quality. Since the results were absolutely outstanding, he thought that it might actually be fit for human consumption.
He’s come a long way since then, because dulse is now a very important project for OSU and actually for the entire state of Oregon, that would be the first ever American state to produce such marvelous food. Chris Langdon has developed a perfected strain of dulse, that grows faster and that is richer in nutrients and he has patented the amazing discovery.
OSU’s Faculty of Business Chuck Toombs stumbled upon Chris Langdon’s invention and he saw tremendous potential in it and so he quickly presented the entire concept to OSU’s Food Innovation Center.
Naturally, they loved it and they intend to make dulse a household name in no time. The plan for factory production is already in place and they even have a working plant at the moment. They also brought in a chef, Jason Ball from California, who is an expert in cooking seaweed as he has researched this type of cuisine at the University of Copenhagen.
If you can believe it, the fact that it tastes like bacon is actually not the most interesting fact about dulse. The wondrous seaweed is actually a super-food, because it packed full of nutrients. It is 16% protein in its dried form and that will be extremely helpful to vegans and vegetarians. And it is also an amazing antioxidant and it is filled with vitamins and minerals.
The future is looking good for OSU’s dulse and soon enough we will all want to try out the delicious dishes that it will come in. And unlike bacon, you can have as much of it as you want and you will actually be healthier for it.
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