BY WANDA CURTIS
University of New England students are engaged in an exciting project which involves the production and marketing of seaweed (kelp) snack bars. The cranberry-almond-kelp bars were first created and marketed by the former owners of the SeaMade Seaweed Company in 2016. Last year, they gifted the company to UNE with the intention of students taking over the production, marketing, and distribution of the SeaMade Bars.
According to UNE communications specialist Deirdre Stires, the limited availability of processed seaweed made it difficult for the former owners to meet wholesale demands for the product. The co-owners decided “gifting their company to UNE was the perfect way to keep the company founded on sustainability viable, especially with the students growing the kelp in their aquaculture classes,” Stires shared in an article on the UNE website.
Stires said that the owners were excited by the idea that students could work on new nutritional and flavor aspects and take the product to the next step.
The UNE SeaMade project kicked off last August with a demonstration production run involving UNE faculty and staff and former owners Tara Treichel and Mark Dvorozniak. This past year, a team of six students, enrolled in several different UNE programs, have been collaborating on the project using existing recipes and also testing new recipes.
Local Flavors
SeaMade Bar mentor Megan Letendre said the current recipe for the bar follows the flavor profile developed by its founders. That includes cranberries, almonds, honey, and kelp. She said the team has also experimented with two other flavor profiles, including blueberries and pecans. They plan to use ingredients from as many local sources as possible. Honey will be sourced from UNE beehives, Letendre said.
“Our long-term goal is to source as many ingredients as possible from Maine and our own campus, reflecting our commitment to local sourcing and sustainable food systems,” she said.
According to UNE Associate Professor Carrie Byron, Ph.D., the kelp used in the bars will come from UNE’s largest aquaculture farm site in Casco Bay that is leased with the Maine Department of Marine Resources. UNE is licensed by the state of Maine to harvest kelp.
Once the project is operating at full scale, Letendre projects UNE students will need to produce several thousand SeaMade Bars annually to meet the anticipated demand on the campus. The bars are made in the UNE Teaching Kitchen under the supervision of Emily Estell, M.P.H., an assistant clinical professor of nutrition. The kitchen is located on UNE’s Biddeford campus.
Seaweed: “A Nutritional Powerhouse”
Seaweed snacks have become increasingly popular throughout the world because of their nutritional benefits. The owners of Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, a Maine company that markets North Atlantic sea vegetables and products nationwide, have described seaweed as “a nutritional powerhouse.” They report, on their website, that sea vegetables (edible forms of seaweed) contain almost all 24 minerals and trace elements required for the body’s physiological functions, some of which “greatly exceed quantities found in land plants.” They note that sea vegetables are also one of the best natural sources of dietary iodine.
Seaweed Has Anti-Cancer and Anti-Viral Effects
The general manager of Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, Seraphina Erhart, said seaweed is a “functional food,” meaning that “it has health benefits beyond basic nutrition.” She said that seaweed has unique polysaccharides not found in land plants.
“These all have bioactive properties such as regulating blood sugar levels and have anti-cancer and anti-viral effects,” she said.
Including seaweed in your meals is a simple way to nourish your body and enjoy the benefits of the ocean’s bounty.
