Lobster isn’t the only delicious thing sourced from the clean, cold waters of Maine. During the crustacean’s off-season—roughly November through May—lobstermen and -women up and down the coast are busy hauling in lines of another glistening catch: ribbons of dark-green seaweed. These pros work with Atlantic Sea Farms, the first business to cultivate fresh kelp at scale on our shores (until recently, it’s been mostly imported, arriving dried or reconstituted using chemicals and artificial dyes). The female-led four-year-old company helps fisherfolk start farms and guides them through the growing-and-harvesting cycle, which removes carbon and nitrogen from the water and reduces ocean acidification. Beyond helping the environment, the process yields a superfood that provides magnesium, iron, calcium, and antioxidants, and is tasty whether tossed in a salad or blitzed into a smoothie—just ask chefs Dan Barber, Victoria Blamey, and David Chang, all fans. “Fresh seaweed has a very different texture and flavor from dried,” says CEO and president Briana Warner. “It’s crunchy and bright-tasting, like a blanched green bean.” One bite, and you’ll join the wave, too.
Clockwise from top: Fermented-seaweed salad, seaweed kimchi (otherwise known as “Sea-Chi”), ready-cut kelp, and frozen kelp cubes. The regenerative plant doesn’t require fresh water, fertilizers, or land to grow, and its forests can remove 20 times more carbon per acre than those on land.
Shop Now: Atlantic Sea Farms Products, from $8, atlanticseafarms.com.
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