2024-04-24 14:40:27
While immersed in the frozen water of the Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway, Angelita Eriksen harvested a handful of algae with a knife that will end up on the plate of a European gourmet restaurant.
“We have the clearest and cleanest waters in Europe and we are lucky to have this resource growing near us.
Norwegian and the daughter of a fisherman, Eriksen teamed up with Tamara Singer, the daughter of Japanese women who cooked seaweed for every meal, to develop their company, Lofoten Seaweed, with a special focus on harvesting and preparing seaweed for food.
With the help of six people, they harvest 11 tons of seaweed by hand a year, the high season which runs from late April to June, in what they describe as “physical work”.
“We harvest dulse seaweed, nori and truffles in autumn and winter. It’s cold and we stay there for an hour” outside on the coast with our feet lower in the water, she explains.
“But at the end of May, in the high season, I sweat while working in overalls and when I take off my gloves, steam comes out,” says the producer.
“It’s physically challenging but at the same time thought-provoking,” says Angelita Eriksen.
– “Delicate pulp” –
Truffle seaweed, winged kelp, sweet kelp, duals, nori, Oarweed Kelp: the female duo focuses on around ten types of seaweed, a food that has been enjoyed for a long time in Japan and whose nutritional quality rivals the Europe gradually.
The seaweed is sold locally or shipped to gourmet restaurants in Norway and the rest of Europe.
The two women organize initial workshops to educate the chefs about the sustainability of seaweed.
“Seaweed is like a vegetable, it has its own texture, its own taste, its own color,” explains Tamara Singer.
The entrepreneur expresses “enormous surprise” at the number of European chefs who had to introduce them to the taste and preparation of different types of seaweed.
On the contrary, the two women worked with Japanese chefs “who know exactly what they want to do” with seaweed. For them, “it’s like giving a piece of fish to northern Norway,” she says.
About 20 kilometers away, chef Josh Wing has been cooking Lofoten Seaweed for five or six years at his upscale Hattvika Lodge restaurant. He was not required to participate in training of his suppliers.
He appreciates “the very delicate pulp of molasses” which he serves with local fish dishes or in bread, “which gives it a “very beautiful visual texture, which is not found in other products”.
To ensure the sustainable nature of their activities, the two entrepreneurs from Lofoten Seaweed have been mapping harvest locations and dates for four years, as well as the amounts harvested by species to ensure a sustainable harvest.
“Our results show that algae in recently logged areas is growing back faster than expected,” they rejoice.
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