tasteMAKERS was funded in part by

(gentle music)

- [Announcer] What does
a craftsperson look like?

Is it this?

Or this?

Or is it this?

Is it possible a craftsperson
might also look like this?

Edward Jones salutes the makers
who share their expertise

and take pride in their craft.

(upbeat music)

- When you hear the
term seafood, you
probably think of fish

but sea vegetables are
gaining prominence as a way

to bring a bit of brine
to your dining room table.

In this episode of tasteMAKERS,
we head to the rocky coast

of Maine to meet farmers
who are cultivating kelp

and having a positive
impact on our oceans.

(upbeat music)

I'm Cat Neville and for
the past two decades,

I've been telling the
story of local food.

In that time, American
food culture has exploded

in tiny towns and big
cities from coast to coast.

In tasteMAKERS, I explore
the maker movement

and take you along for the
journey to meet the makers

who define the flavor
of American cuisine.

(upbeat music)

(waves crashing on shore)

Here in Maine, lobster is king.

Generations have worked
these cold waters

pulling bounty from the ocean
but the oceans are changing

and the future of
fisheries are uncertain.

Enter kelp.

The team at Atlantic Sea
Farms is working with

local fishermen to help
them set up kelp farms,

supporting the region's
economic vitality

while also pulling
carbon from the ocean.

(gentle music)

- I care deeply about
the coast of Maine

and right now, we're totally
dependent on the lobster

monoculture up and
down the state.

When there's not much
else to do out there

to make a living in
these very rural areas,

you can see the
writing on the wall

that things can be
troubling in the future,

especially when the Gulf
of Maine is warming faster

than 99% of the bodies
of water in the world.

So for me, aquaculture
just feels like

exactly what needs to
happen for our state

in order to help
diversify the fishery,

make us more sustainable as
an entire coastal ecosystem

and bring this really
fresh wonderful

kelp product to
American consumers.

The company has been
around for nine years

under the brand
Atlantic Sea Farms

and it was the first commercial
seaweed farm in the country.

We're producing about
14 times more kelp

than we ever have in the past

and as of very recently, we
just launched this retail line

because we realized that
people have eaten it so much

in restaurants, that they're
ready to get it in their homes

including three fermented
products and two frozen products

that are really easy to
use for the home chef.

I think it's taken a
while for American kelp

to really rise in prominence

but we're now at the point
where people are asking for it,

which is a really nice change.

So right now, if you're
eating seaweed or kelp,

you're probably getting
it imported from Asia,

like 98% of what
we eat in the US

is actually imported
from Asia and it's dried

and it tastes fishy
and it tastes salty

and I knew that taste of kelp
but then when I came to Maine

and started tasting what
was bring grown here

and fresh out of the water,

it's like nothing
you've ever had.

So, think about, if you've only
had like a dehydrated apple

or dehydrated banana and you
never had the real fruit,

you know, the full juicy fruit,

you'd probably say,
well this is good,

but it wouldn't taste at
all like what we know of

when you pull off an
apple off the tree.

Similarly with kelp, what we
provide is a fresh kelp product

and we take it right
out of the ocean.

When the kelp comes
out of the water,

it's this beautiful brown color,

but it's not the color
that we're used to seeing

in the bright green
seaweed salads,

which are dyed with
yellow five and blue one

and all the stuff that you
don't want in your salad.

So our product,
when we blanch it,

it naturally turns
really beautiful green,

like sort of like
the color of grass

and it's a flavor carrier, but
it's also a flavor enhancer.

So it's a slight umami but
really can just be used

in place of any fresh
vegetable or frozen vegetable

that you would usually use.

(gentle music)

- Kelp is a plant,
first and foremost.

It's a photosynthesizing
organism.

It's a macro algae that
grows in the ocean.

It's very healthy for you,
it's very healthy for the ocean

and it's a key part
of ocean ecosystems

throughout the world.

A really interesting
thing about kelp is,

for the first 24 hours of its
life, it's actually a spore

and it's swimming
around in the water

and then, after 24 hours,
they settle on something,

they stay there for
the rest of their life.

What we're doing is,
instead of having that kelp

attached to the
bottom of the ocean,

we're growing that kelp
on ropes, on lines.

A, it gets a lot more
sunlight, so it can grow faster

and then B, it's not
touching the bottom,

so you get a lot less
organisms that wanna eat it.

We plant it in October and
then once the watershed

warms back up in the
spring, growth takes off.

(waves crashing)

- The Gulf of Maine is
warming faster than 99%

of all of the other bodies
of water on the planet

and so, what does that mean
for the local fishing industry?

Well, while the lobster
industry itself is thriving,

it is critical for
fisheries to diversify

their income streams
in order to survive.

(gentle music)

- Fishermen used to fish for
all sorts of things in Maine,

for ground fish, for scallops,

for sea urchins and for lobster.

Now, because of overfishing
and because of climate change,

a lot of those other
fisheries have dried up

and right now, the main
fishery that really keeps

a lot of our coasts thriving
is the lobster fishery

and that's great because
a lot of fisherman

are doing really well off
of the lobster fishery,

but that also makes them
highly vulnerable to change.

So a lot of fisherman are
looking for other things to do

and kelp is just a
match made in heaven

for lobster fishermen.

The primary lobster fishing
season here in Maine

is from June through November

and kelp gives many
fishermen in Maine

an opportunity to do something
else in this off season.

For the most part,
fishermen in Maine have

almost all the skills they need
to succeed as a kelp farmer.

They know the water
better than anyone

off of the coast of Maine

and they also have the boats
and the equipment necessary.

On our first year of buying kelp

and working with
partner farmers,

we had, I think three fishermen,

that were actively working
with us and selling kelp to us.

This year, we had
15 partner farmers

and next year, we're looking
at having, probably over 25

and as matter of fact, we now
kind of have a waiting list

of fishermen that want
to sell kelp to us.

- I am dressed in many layers

because it is about to get
really wet and really cold.

We're heading out on
the water with Bri

and one of her
farmers, Karen Cooper.

(upbeat music)

So, we're here in Wheelers Bay

and I'm sitting here
with Karen Cooper,

the first lobster man and kelp
farmer in the state of Maine

and what attracted you to
seaweed, to kelp generally?

- So, my best friend
Michelle got breast cancer

and she decided that
she was going to eat raw

and nothing but raw.

So, we were having lunch one day

and she was eating
seaweed salad,

which I thought
looked disgusting

and probably tasted disgusting

and she's like, no, it doesn't.

So I tried it and I
was like, you're right,

(Cat laughs)
it does taste good.

So I looked up
online about seaweed

and I came across these
two wonderful people

who have helped me along the
way and just got me started

and this is my fourth
year harvesting kelp.

- [Cat] And what is the
process of harvesting the kelp?

- [Karen] You go over,
you untie your lines,

you put it through to
your block on your holler

and just cut it
off as it comes up.

- That's it?

- Yeah, simple.

- [Cat] Probably easier
than fishing for lobster?

- Yeah, definitely

because, I mean I can
put the seed in there

and I know it's gonna grow.

I can put a trap somewhere,

it doesn't mean I'm
gonna catch a lobster.

(Cat laughs)

I wish it worked like that.

I wish it was the same.

(upbeat music)

- Kelp is an incredible plant.

It actually grows
very very quickly

and it acts as a carbon sink.

So, through photosynthesis,
it pulls in carbon,

nitrogen and phosphorus
and outputs oxygen

and there's a halo
that's created around

these kelp forests
of remediated water.

We just finished
watching Keith and Ben

and also Karen harvest
all of this kelp.

How much do you think
you brought in today?

- Probably it's gonna weigh

thirteen to fifteen
hundred pounds.

- [Cat] So how long does it
take for these guys to grow?

They're huge.

- We seeded this
actually in mid-December

and we're harvesting now.

- [Cat] And right now, it's
about the tail end of May.

- [Keith] Right, it is.

- The kelp, actually is a
net positive for the oceans

cause it's pulling in all that--

- Yes it is.

- Carbon and all that nitrogen.

- Yeah.

- I mean, this is something
that is really exploding.

It's creating such
new opportunities

- It is.
- For people like you

who make their living
out of the ocean.

- Yeah, it is for us because
our lobster in season is

closed down at about five months
and we need something else.

- And so, how does the
relationship between

you and the folks at
Atlantic Sea Farms work?

- [Keith] They basically
contract us to buy it

and then they send me the seed

and then they buy it all
from us and take it all

and keep track and make
sure we're doing it right.

We do a lot of
communication with James

coming back and forth to make
sure the product is right

and on time and taken care of.

- So, do you enjoy this?

- Yes, I do, something
different, something new.

- Yeah.

- You get tried of
the lobster and then,

you know, not making
any money out of that,

you just like an adventure

(Keith and Cat laugh)
once in a while.

You know, you can't just
sit on your laurels forever.

You gotta try
something different

and we appreciate these guys,
you know, hooking up with us

and giving us a chance.

(upbeat music)

- So, all of the kelp
that is harvested

out of these cold clean Maine
waters is brought back here.

This is where it's
processed, let's go inside.

(upbeat music)

So we're here in the Atlantic
Sea Farms processing facility

in our snazzy blue outfits.

So, tell us what's
going on behind us.

- So, today we're
working on wraps,

which is a specific
product for chefs.

It's a product that we take
very carefully off the farm

of sugar kelp, a big wide leaf.

Then we blanch it, which
turns it a bright green

and slowly wrap it.

So it's a very high-end product
that's for high-end chefs

that are using it to
wrap fish or chicken

or things like that.

On other days, we bring
in a bunch of strap kelp

which we send
through the shredder,

spits out a bunch
of shredded kelp

that kind of keeps it
this really fine texture.

Then we blanch it through our
mechanical blanching machine

and then we pack it
up and ready to go,

either for fermentation
raw without the blanching

or for our Ready Cut Kelp,

which is the defrost and eat
seaweed product that we have.

- And so, do the
two different kinds

of kelp taste different?

Why are you
cultivating two kinds?

- They actually taste
no different at all,

but the texture for
both our seaweed salad,

our Sea-Chi, our Kraut
and our Ready Cut

is really wonderful
with that strap kelp.

The sugar kelp has just
a little kind of more

beautiful look to it if we're
using it for the whole leaf

and it has more expanse too.

So, if you're
wrapping a large fish,

you can kind of
wrap it around that.

- And so, what they're doing
is they're taking the stem.

What is the stem called?

- The stem is called the stipe.

- Which has this hollow
area in the middle

and I had a chance to
taste some of this,

it's just super crunchy.

- It's super crunchy,
it's delicious

and maybe I'll grab
one for you here.

- Okay.

- [Bri] Here is
the blanched stipe.

You see how it turns green
when it hits the hot water.

- Yes.

- Isn't that unbelievable?

- It's so cool.

- But this is what it looks like

when it comes out of the farm

and it has a little
bit of a hole there,

so I mean, it works
great for straws,

an alternative use for straws

but a lot of chefs will
blanch it themselves

cause we actually sell it raw

- Mm-hmm.

- And then chop it up into
a scallion type thing.

So you might not even know
if it's on your plate,

but it's nice and crunchy.

It adds a nice salty
crunch flavor to it.

- So, the season for kelp
is really interesting.

This active part really
only takes place,

what, three months a year?

- That's right.

So, we start harvesting
in the beginning of April

and we're done in
the middle of June.

So it's actually
faster than that.

It's long days for three months,

especially for the
harvesters who are out there

first thing in the morning.

Last year, we processed
20000 pounds of kelp,

this year, 350000 pounds.

So, you know, our
ultimate goal is,

all right, the more we
can actually sell of this,

the more farmers we
can get in the water

or the farmers we have can
expand and make a viable income.

- It's such a win-win
because you're creating

new economic opportunity
here in Maine,

you're diversifying what
these farmers are able to do,

it's environmentally beneficial

and it's creating new
opportunities for chefs,

- That's right.
- like, it's a product

that they couldn't really
get a hold of before.

- Never, never, they're
like, fresh seaweed?

That's amazing, I've
never worked with that.

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music)

- Here at Legal Sea
Foods in Boston,

executive chef, Rich
Vellante is using kelp

in a number of
dishes on his menu,

including those full
leaves of sugar kelp

that we saw harvested
the other day.

We are going to go
through some dishes.

- Yes.

- That features some of the
Atlantic Sea Farms seaweed.

- Exactly, yeah, we've been
introduced to this about

a year and a half ago and
it's been a great story for us

and so, this is
one of the dishes

that we do with their kelp.

- This is the salmon
that's wrapped

in those whole
leaves of sugar kelp

that we saw Keith pulling
out of Wheeler Bay

and this is an exclusive
product for you guys, right?

- This is.

These come to us like
this, these whole kelp.

We cut them into
strips and we wrap them

like this around the fish.

We serve this with
a lemongrass broth.

We pair it with some
shrimp and some mushrooms

and bok choy, we have
some rice noodles with it

and a little bit of
hot Thai chili peppers.

- Nice.

What a beautiful dish.

In the ocean yesterday and
now it's on the plate here

at Legal Sea Foods today.
- Exactly, yes.

- I love that.

- Beautiful.

This is one of our more
popular dishes actually

and it's a vegan
dish, vegetarian dish

and we're seeing more and more
people be interested in this

and so, we thought it
was a nice addition

to offer some seaweed
salad with it as well.

So, here we have just brown rice

and it's cooked with
leeks and garlic

- [Cat] Ooh, nice.

- [Rich] And then, we add
those shiitakes and the spinach

that we heated up and
fermented seaweed salad.

- Being able to keep the
seaweed salad, it still keeps

the sea in this vegan dish.
- Exactly.

- It's a vegetable but
it still is absolutely

coming from the
sea, it is seafood.

- It's a great point
and that's exactly what

inspired us to do this was,

it still connects
with the ocean.

We have a little bit of kimchi

and we'll finish this
off with some tofu.

This tofu is from Maine as
well, it's a local family

that makes the tofu for us
- Oh, that's great.

- And we'll top that
off with some sesame,

our sesame chili vinaigrette

and then we'll serve
this with some gochujang.

Gochujang is just a Korean chili

mixed with different types
of soy and other items

and so, you mix
that all together

and you just get a great
flavor and a great dish.

- That's awesome.

It's just a wonderful, kind
of example of the versatility

- Exactly.
- Of this sea vegetable.

- It shows the
different applications.

When people hear it,
they go, oh seaweed,

what am I going to do with that?

That's the thing
that sticks to my leg

when I'm in the ocean, right?
(Cat laughs)

And we're trying to help to show

that it can be part
of a nutritious meal,

give you different dimensions
of flavor and texture.

- Fantastic.
- Yeah.

- Thank you so much.

- My pleasure,
thanks for having me.

- Absolutely.

Here at Mami in
Downtown Portland,

Austin Miller is incorporating
fresh local seaweed

into his Japanese
style, Izakaya menu.

Let's go in and check it out.

(upbeat music)

- Mami is Izakaya
Japanese style pub food.

Super simple, delicious.

Seaweed's an integral
part of Japanese cuisine.

We've been kind of searching for

local seaweed for a long time.

I mean obviously
it's right there,

but we don't have
the time to go out

and harvest it ourselves.

With Atlantic Sea Farms and Bri

and all the folks that work
really hard over there,

it's been awesome and lends
itself super well to our food.

Fresh seaweed, it's really
good vessel for many things.

It really takes on
whatever flavors

and textures you want it to.

Supporting what's in our
environment is really important.

It's just small, baby steps that

we need people to
take in the country,

you know, to really
like push us forward

in our food
sensibility and like,

where we're getting
food and buying food.

I think just everyone
working together,

all the chefs, all
the restaurateurs,

we're all working
towards the same goal

of utilizing what's in
Maine and what's around us.

There's farms for
everything, you know,

and I think it's
important we use it.

(waves crashing onto shore)

- A quarter of the
carbon that we're pumping

into the atmosphere
ends up in our oceans

and here at Bigelow Laboratory,

Nichole Price is using kelp
to help solve that problem.

(gentle music)

- Ocean acidification
is a process by which

the carbon dioxide in our
atmosphere, about 25% of it

gets absorbed in the surface
waters of the oceans.

It spurs a series of
chemical reactions

that make seawater
relatively more acidic.

The problem is, when
seawater becomes

even slightly more acidic,
it becomes corrosive

to shellfish who want
to form their shells.

So, imagine trying grow
your body without bones.

This is the fate that some of
these shellfish are suffering

in a future more acidic ocean.

The Gulf of Maine is
particularly vulnerable

to both ocean acidification
problems and to global warming

because of the unique
bathymetry of our area

and the fact that
our seawater has

an extraordinarily low
buffering capacity.

So it means that,
the Gulf of Maine

is warming faster than just
about anywhere in the globe

and our waters are becoming
more and more acidic.

This means for a
state whose economy

is almost entirely dependent
on the working waterfront,

that we're in a
pretty vulnerable and
tenuous situation.

We are right now most
excited about aquaculture

as a sustainable viable
solution moving forward

and when you're thinking
about kelp aquaculture,

they can tend to
have an actually

therapeutic property
for the ocean

by absorbing carbon dioxide,
nitrogen and phosphorus

and their waste material
is oxygen to the ocean.

So, these kinds of things
create beneficial water

quality impacts when you're
growing kelp in the water.

(gentle music)

- Coastal communities
have always been

something that I valued,
something I grew up in

and something that I
want to keep sustainable

long into the future.

I also know that, with
so many changes happening

in the world today,
we got to look to

other options than
just the fisheries

that we've been
fishing for so long

and we have to, you know, be
a little bit more attentive

about the ways that we
continue to make a living

on the world's coasts.

- Lobsters gonna be
with us for a long time,

but it's not going to be with us

in the way it is today forever.

So for me, that's super
exciting to think about

preventing disaster
or helping to absorb

some of the shock of
that vulnerability.

Our company is a first
mover in a product

that has never been done here
in the United States before.

Americans have never
had fresh kelp ever

and it's super exciting
to have the opportunity

to show someone this
new product and also,

have these product
forms that make it taste

really really good.

So, it's really easy to use

and people can be
educated about it

and eat something that
they feel good about,

that they know is not
only doing well for them,

but also that it's
good for the ocean

and good for coastal economies.

There's so much to feel good
about in eating this product.

Being able to add to
that, that it's tasty,

is something that
really drives me.

(upbeat music)

(dramatic upbeat music)

- We're going to wrap
the episode up here
in Bri's kitchen.

She's going to share some
family-friendly recipes

are going to get you cooking
with seaweed at home.

(gentle music)

So, this right here
is just the Ready Cut.

- This is the Ready Cut Kelp.

Today actually,
part of that is in

our soba noodle salad here.

This is before it's blanched
and before it's prepared.

Once we blanch it,
- It turns that bright green.

- [Bri] It turns this
bright green color.

- You have three
fermented products.

We also know about the
value of fermentation

- That's right.
- For our health,

all along with building flavor.

- This is seaweed kraut.
- Mm-hmm.

- This is Sea-Chi
- Uh-huh.

- And this is fermented
seaweed salad.

It's very alive, it bubbles.

It's very much
naturally fermented.

- What about the
nutritional value of kelp?

- So it's got more calcium
than milk per ounce.

- Oh, wow.
- Which is amazing, right?

It's also got a
ton of potassium, a
bunch of Omega threes

and it also has vitamin
D, Vitamin B and iodine.

- [Cat] Bri has cooked a
few things for us here.

- We have.

So, these are kelp cubes
and these can be used

for just about anything.

It's basically that
product but pureed

and into simple serving size.

So, we sell them
as smoothie cubes

and I made some here
with mango and peach

and oat milk and
cinnamon, it's delicious.

This is just regular
buckwheat soba noodles,

and I have some sesame tahini
soy sauce and shallots on it

and then I mixed it with our
Ready Cut Kelp and our Sea-Chi

and some cilantro,
it's very simple.

This is fresh made haddock
- Nice.

- With seaweed butter and kraut.

- The haddock is flaky
and really really mild

and it plays so beautifully
against that butter

with just that hint
of the seaweed flavor.

I mean, it's just delicious.

All of this marries
together so beautifully.

- [Bri] Yeah.

- That's so good.

So, Bri went to grab
her little one, Lachlan.

He's a big fan of all these
wonderful seaweed flavors.

- Would you like some smoothie?

Yeah.

Moms, they say like, how do
I get my kids to eat seaweed?

I'm like well, it's pretty
easy, put some fruit with it

(Cat laughs)
you got it

and the seaweed salad,
I've certainly seen him eat

like a quarter of a jar before.

- For the recipe
for this smoothie

along with all the other
dishes that you see here,

just head to
WeAreTasteMakers.com.

You'll find tons of information
on Atlantic Sea Farms

along with the other makers
we're featuring in this season.

Thank you for joining
me here in Maine

and thank you Bri and
thank you Lachlan.

We'll see you next time.

- [Bri] Say bye bye.

- Can you say bye-bye?

(Cat gasps) Bye-bye.

(Bri and Cat laugh)

Connect with us online
at WeAreTasteMakers.com

or through social
media on these handles.

(upbeat music)

- [Announcer] tasteMAKERS
was funded in part by

- [Announcer] What does
a craftsperson look like?

Is it this?

Or this?

Or is it this?

Is it possible a craftsperson
might also look like this?

Edward Jones salutes the makers
who share their expertise

and take pride in their craft.