So if you did a bacon salad with it, would it just taste like bacon-bacon?
Finally a decent reason to eat clean. Scientists have created a new strain of seaweed that tastes like bacon and has twice the nutritional value of kale.
Originally discovered by researchers at Oregon State University, the dulse seaweed is a red marine algae that can be found along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. In the past dulse has been harvested, dried and sold as a cooking ingredient, but now the scientists have created a new strain that can be farmed.
And not only does it taste like bacon, but it has the sort of nutritional CV that makes kale look like a Dunkin' Donut. Dulse contains 16% protein in its dry weight and is packed with minerals and antioxidants.
A piece of dulse seaweed
Patented by scientist - and lead researcher on the project - Chris Langdon, dulse is currently being developed into a range of snacks (including crisps and salad dressing). The trick, says Langdon, is to fry it. 'There hasn’t been a lot of interest in using it in a fresh form,' he has said of his healthy invention, 'but this stuff is pretty amazing. When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed. And it’s a pretty strong bacon flavour.'
Though anyone reading this thinking 'GREAT - where can I buy it?' will have to wait for a while before it becomes commercially available. But the discovery and development of dulse is surely great news for bacon lovers, vegetarians missing bacon - and pigs.