Kelp Noodles

[johnnyd]

A colleague of mine in the sea urchin business received a grant from the Maine Technology Institute to develop a Kelp Noodle product. He experimented for a decade and is ready to ramp up production. Story here - today's Portland Press Herald

He's not talking about the dried kelp found in Asian markets and health food stores. That highly potent product is used mainly as an herb in soup stocks, stir-fried dishes and as a marinated delicacy in salads.

It must be rehydrated and cooked. Rather, Olson is introducing a new food he calls "kelp noodles," through a company he formed last year, Ocean Approved LLC.

He makes the noodles by running kelp strips through an Italian-made pasta cutter. He then boils the noodles until they are green and soft and freezes them in plastic bags. Rather than an herb, it's a ready-to-eat meal.

I have a bag in my freezer and I'm ready to give them a once-over, with pics. My question to fellow eG members is, with what shall I prepare them?

Dried kelp has a pungent, salty taste. Olson's kelp noodles, though, are mild, almost tasteless, like tofu. Olson said they can be served in meals in place of pasta or mixed in with pasta. The noodles also can be used in soups, salads or as a garnish.

The noodles absorb flavors and work well with sauce-smothered seafood dishes, said Abby Harmon, chef and co-owner of Caiola's, a Portland restaurant. "I love them because of their texture," she said. "Some seaweeds are unpalatable for people who don't like the sea flavor. This is not like that."

Harbor Fish Market on Portland's Custom House Wharf and Jess's Fish Market in Rockland have sold the kelp noodles in recent months; Jess's sells an 8-ounce package of noodles for $6.49. The market's manager and part-owner, Jamie Johnson, said high-end restaurants are buying the kelp. He said sales are pretty good for an unknown product that doesn't even have a label.

My natural inclination is seafood. Shrimp season is upon us, so that's a strong possibility. Please weigh in with your votes.

[torakris]

I am having a hard time trying to imagine what these would taste like. The picture of them in the bowl looks quite similar to a couple types of seaweed that are also cut into strips like that that. I can't imagine using them in place of pasta, I usually use them in salad style preparations. Please do take some pictures.

[johnnyd]

Here is a 6oz portion, frozen. Not very exciting at this point. Before I prepare them I will ask a few chefs in town how they use them. Again, if there is anyone with ideas, please post. I can get some more to try a variety if there is any interest in doing so.

Further, Tolof has agreed to a tour of his facility. Could be interesting.

We can speculate, Torakris, that the kelp you are used to is of a different consistency and flavor. From the linked article:

He collects a species called sugar kelp, so named because it is coated with a sweet, white substance when dried. Sugar kelp is usually found in shallow, sheltered areas and is prevalent in protected bays like Casco Bay. It has a long, thin blade with ruffled edges. Olson cuts off the edges and slices them up into thin, tangled strips, a product he calls "kelp lettuce."

I suppose we'll find out!

[johnnyd]

Today, Tolof Olson of Ocean Approved LLC was on hand at Harbor Fish Market on one of the piers in Portland Maine, to demonstrate the versatility of his Kelp Noodles.

His cold preparation was a salad dressed with rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seed. The Kelp comes frozen so when it's thawed rinse a bit first, he says.

It was really good - crunchy

He also served a hot sample with mussels (mussel aquaculture is his main business).

These were delicious with his mussels, which were steamed in white wine and garlic. The kelp held it's crunch when heated.

He says he is expecting to harvest a thousand pounds of kelp per week to meet demand. He has just started selling thin, angel-hair pasta-size kelp specifically for the salad option

This is a guy who is passionate about his product. Hats off to Tolof Olsen.

[SheenaGreena]

mmmmm yummy! I love seaweed, especially in the non-dried form. I would love to try some out

[Abra]

I missed this post originally, but I'm pretty fascinated by the idea. Did they taste kelp-y, or noodle-y, or neither? I like kelp a lot, and noodles, but it's hard to imagine these. I even really like shirataki noodles, which might be similar in some ways. Did they want Asian flavors to go with, or were they really neutral?

[johnnyd]

On the whole they have a neutral flavor. The salad prepared in an asian manner was simple and delicious. Tolof said he worked hard on the right balance of dressing:

1 part rice wine vinegar

2 parts sesame oil

3 parts soy

toasted sesame seeds

It was a successful dish and looks great as you can see.

The noodles are cooked al dente before packaging. As Tolof heated them in the mussel broth they absorbed the garlic and wine flavor, but not too much. They got a bit softer here but still had a firmness that was actually fun to bite on, and unexpected since I was thinking fettucine at the time. Add those mussels and it's a memorable experience. I can still taste both a day later.

I know he's a friend of mine and I unceasingly promote local food endeavours but I really think he's got something here. I still have that bag in the freezer so I have to try it myself. Ocean Approved has gone to great lengths to make the prep as easy as possible.

"After thawing, run under hot water to warm them up." say the directions. Are we washing away flavor by doing so? I don't think so but I'll try it out.

[Domestic Goddess]

Hey, they have that here in Korea. Lemme ask my friends how they would prepare this at home.

[mizducky]

Hi, johnnyd! Those noodles do look really fascinating. I love all the seaweed products I've tried so far, so I bet I'd dig these too. They look like they have at least a little similarity to the kind of noodly seaweed used in salads in a number of Japanese restaurants around here, though I'll have to find some of this noodle product to do a for-real comparison. I would probably try these noodles in similar salad type preparations, or in a soup or other simmered dish. Good luck to your friend--it does sound like he's got a great concept on his hands.

[johnnyd]

*bump*

It's been a couple years since things got started at Ocean Approved but it seems my pal Toleff is getting good at this.

From today's Boston Globe - magazine,

"It's very versatile," says Tollef Olson, CEO of Ocean Approved, the Portland, Maine, company behind this anti-pasta. "Instead of a vegetable, you can use kelp. Instead of a noodle, you can use a kelp noodle." Packages come pre-cooked and frozen. Thawed, the strips have a satisfying firmness, a mild flavor not unlike green beans and, not surprisingly, the faint, salty aroma of the ocean.

"The seaweed industry in the United States doesn't really exist yet," Olson tells me as we motor past the Portland waterfront and out into Casco Bay. It's chilly, and Olson has just lit a fire in the boat's tiny wood stove below deck. "We're really just making it up as we go along," he says. So far, that has entailed the fledgling company's chief executive slipping over the side of a boat several times each week to harvest the stuff. In a few minutes he'll change into a 7-millimeter-thick wetsuit to keep him alive in these frigid waters.

Here's a couple pics from a day out collecting kelp last year,

Here's a Recipe: Mussels & Linguini with Kelp Noodles

I chatted with Bernie at Ocean Approved this morning and he tells me four more Boston-area Whole Foods markets now carry their Kelp noodles - Wellesley, Woburn, Charles River Plaza, and Andover - in case anyone here in New England wants to add them to this summer's repasts.

In Portland, Maine, these area purveyors are listed in today's Boston Globe article by Chris Ladd,

Ocean Approved kelp is available at Harbor Fish Market, 9 Custom House Wharf, Portland, Maine, 800-370-1790 ($3.25 for 4 ounces); Browne Trading Co., 260 Commercial St., Portland, Maine, 800-944-7848 ($5 for 4 ounces), and Whole Foods Market, 2 Somerset St., Portland, Maine, 207-774-7711 ($4.69 for 4 ounces).

It appears plans are afoot to supply Ocean Approved Kelp products nation-wide. Kelp harvesting is a sustainable, locally-supported food product.

Edited April 29, 2009 by johnnyd (log)