{"id":80989,"date":"2013-08-19T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=80989"},"modified":"2015-10-16T14:42:14","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T18:42:14","slug":"from-the-lab-to-the-dinner-table-kelp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/08\/from-the-lab-to-the-dinner-table-kelp\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Lab to the Dinner Table: Seaweed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"From Sea to Table, UConn Research Benefits\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9X8Fnu-Hn3g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Charlie Yarish pulls a long strand of kelp out of the chilly waters of Long Island Sound and takes a bite.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, that\u2019s good,\u201d he says. \u201cCrisp and sweet. You can\u2019t beat it when it\u2019s fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just another day at the office for Yarish\u00a0\u2013 \u201cCaptain Seaweed\u201d\u00a0\u2013 a professor in UConn&#8217;s departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Marine Sciences, who is using the expertise that\u2019s made him a globally renowned seaweed specialist to help birth an entirely new industry up and down the East Coast.<\/p>\n<p>Yarish, a tall, gregarious New York native with a brushy mustache and an infectious enthusiasm for his work, envisions a day when seaweed farms, using techniques developed at the University of Connecticut, stretch from one end of Long Island Sound to the other, producing a crop worth potentially more than $47 million annually.<\/p>\n<p>But first, he\u2019s got to get that strand of kelp off the boat and onto your dinner plate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Growing sea vegetables<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The process starts in the waters of Long Island Sound, where Yarish, assistant research professor of marine sciences Jang Kim, and others harvest the reproductive tissue from the seaweed that they then transport to Yarish\u2019s lab at UConn\u2019s Stamford campus. There, the tissue releases hundreds of thousands of spores that are grown under ideal lab conditions until they\u2019re ready to be taken back out to sea and planted on a seaweed farm.<\/p>\n<p>Yarish\u2019s lab produces summer and winter varieties of different seaweeds, meaning the industry can function year-round. Once the plants are ready for harvest, fishing boats use grappling hooks to haul up long lines covered in crisp seaweed, which is then cut, bagged, and taken to Bridgeport for processing.<\/p>\n<p>From there, it goes to a growing number of restaurants and chic markets, where the flavorful, nutritious plant is gaining in popularity. Among the companies working with Yarish to explore seaweed&#8217;s full potential is Maine-based <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oceanapproved.com\/\">Ocean Approved<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI call them sea vegetables rather than seaweed,\u201d Yarish says, \u201cbecause that\u2019s a more accurate description. Just like vegetables, they\u2019re high in nutrients, vitamins, and trace elements, and they\u2019re good for you, and they\u2019re delicious. They can be made into pasta noodles and are gluten free.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_81735\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-81735\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a027.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-81735  img-responsive lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a027.jpg\" alt=\"Charlie Yarish, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and marine sciences, left, and Bren Smith of the Thimble Islands Oyster Co. look over a strand of kelp as it is harvested from Long Island Sound. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a027.jpg 630w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a027-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a027-150x100.jpg 150w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 350px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 350\/233;\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-81735\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charlie Yarish, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and marine sciences, left, and Bren Smith of the Thimble Islands Oyster Co. look over a strand of kelp as it is harvested from Long Island Sound. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They\u2019re also coming along at a time when more and more Americans are thinking hard about what goes onto their plate, from whether it\u2019s healthy, to how it was produced. Seaweed pushes all those locavore, organic, health-conscious, and foodie buttons, which is what drew Bren Smith to Yarish\u2019s research.<\/p>\n<p>Smith is the owner of the Thimble Islands Oyster Co. and captain of the fishing boat on which Yarish was happily crunching away on some kelp recently. Having done longline fishing in the Bering Sea and lobstering off Massachusetts, Smith, in his flannel shirt and Whalers cap, looks every inch the classic New England fisherman. But he\u2019s also business-savvy and environmentally conscious, two traits that make seaweed farming a natural fit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re hoping seaweed is going to be the next kale,\u201d Smith says, referring to the once-doughty winter vegetable which has become trendily omnipresent in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>One of the ways that\u2019s going to happen is by getting the word out that seaweed isn\u2019t just for sushi, although that\u2019s probably how most people have encountered it as food.<\/p>\n<p>Ocean Approved, a company that uses Yarish\u2019s research in its harvesting, makes pasta noodles out of kelp, for instance, and notes that kelp has more fiber than brown rice, more calcium than whole milk, and more iron than spinach.<\/p>\n<p>In trendy Manhattan restaurants like Louro, seaweed-featuring dishes have ranged from kelp pasta with crab to pork belly with kelp salad to scallops and rice tossed in a kelp vinegar. The ritzy New York City \u201ccocktail consultants\u201d Evoe recently teamed with Louro and Smith to offer a special night of seaweed dishes and cocktails, like the Green Blood Maria, with kelp, chilies, and tomatoes, and the Sovereign Remedy, made with kelp-infused whiskey.<\/p>\n<p>Seaweed can be used in countless other recipes, too, from wraps to soup to scrambled eggs, but the interest in cutting-edge New York eateries is an important step, Smith says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen something catches on in New York, it usually spreads pretty quickly to the rest of the country,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Improving water quality<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_81733\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-81733\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a126.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-81733  img-responsive lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a126.jpg\" alt=\"Charles Yarish, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and marine sciences, looks over a line of kelp as it is being harvested by the Thimble Islands Oyster Company from Long Island Sound. One of the many benefits of kelp is that it can help reduce water pollution. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo) (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a126.jpg 630w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a126-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Kelp130522a126-150x100.jpg 150w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 350px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 350\/233;\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-81733\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the many benefits of kelp is that it can help reduce water pollution. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Seaweed, of course, has other uses: Yarish\u2019s research, recently funded, in part, by Connecticut Sea Grant, originally focused on the plant\u2019s value in reducing water pollution in coastal waters. One of Yarish\u2019s seaweed farms is at the confluence of Bronx and East Rivers in the Bronx, where the plants soak up nitrogen dumped into the water by nearby waste treatment plants and nutrients entering the watershed. This is one of the aspects that attracts green-minded businesses like Smith\u2019s: just by growing the seaweed, nutrient pollution is reduced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf someone sees the floats from our lines from their beach house in Fairfield, they should know we\u2019re improving their water quality,\u201d Yarish says.<\/p>\n<p>When Yarish and Timothy Dowding, a professor-in-residence at Stamford, began brainstorming ways the nutrient extraction properties of seaweed could be twinned with other uses, Yarish says they kept finding new applications for what he calls \u201cthe virtuous vegetable\u201d: animal feeds, biofuel, plant fertilizers, colloids (including alginates and agars), textiles, paper.<\/p>\n<p>All of those may prove to be lucrative economic development paths, but for now, Yarish is concentrating on turning seaweed \u2013 sea vegetables \u2013 into a mainstay of American menus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s nothing like it,\u201d he says, as Bren Smith\u2019s boat bobs in the waters of Long Island Sound. \u201cEating something that\u2019s really good for you and that tastes great on top of it. How can you beat it?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UConn professor Charlie Yarish is helping birth a new industry up and down the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":81735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076,1862,174,70],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[131],"class_list":["post-80989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-busn","category-uconn-stamford","category-video"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-15 23:18:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80989"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105272,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80989\/revisions\/105272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/81735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80989"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=80989"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=80989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}