Oregon State Puts More of the Sea on a Plate

Although water makes up nearly three-quarters of the earth’s surface—and most of that is salt water—the oceans are underutilized as a source of food for the world’s rapidly growing population. In fact, 99% of the food humans consume comes from terrestrial sources, and less than 1% comes from marine sources. Researchers at Oregon State University are working to change that. Professors and staff at the university’s Food Innovation Center and Seafood Research & Education Center (the Seafood Lab) are exploring more of what the sea offers and putting it on a plate. Two of their most prominent projects involve a type of seaweed with a familiar flavor when cooked and surimi seafood.

A Sea Vegetable Hogs Attention 
Dulse is a red-algae seaweed that typically grows in coastal areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is also a nutritional powerhouse, containing vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, and D; minerals such as iodine, iron, magnesium and potassium; and up to 16% protein when dried. The dulse growing at Oregon State University recently made national headlines—not for its superfood qualities but because of its uncanny ability to mimic the flavor of bacon when it’s deep-fried. However, Oregon State’s dulse is not unique because of its bacon flavor. Chris Langdon, a professor at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, had been growing dulse in vats of seawater for 20 years, eventually developing a fast-growing strain of it, but he was using it exclusively to feed abalone, a univalve molluscan shellfish. Upon visiting the Hatfield Marine Science Center, Chuck Toombs, a professor at Oregon State’s College of Business, suggested that Langdon’s fast-growing dulse be used to feed humans as well—especially since it tastes like bacon and consumers are willing to pay $35 to $50 a pound for it. Still, Michael Morrissey, director of the Food Innovation Center, wants to set the record straight: “When it exploded in the press, there was a misconception that a strain was developed that had a flavor like bacon, but raw dulse tastes like seaweed,” he says. In fact, most types of dulse would taste like bacon if they were deep-fried. Hence, the true distinctions of this dulse are that it grows fast and Oregon State’s researchers have developed unique ways to incorporate its briny umami flavor in a variety of foods.

After devising a plan with Langdon and Toombs to market dulse to consumers, Morrissey hired research chef Jason Ball to develop several prototypes, all made with dulse. Ball, who had already worked with seaweed while employed as a research chef at the University of Copenhagen, presented Morrissey and his colleagues with approximately 40 product ideas. The products ranged from beer, for which Ball substituted dulse for aroma hops, to sourdough bread, for which he used dehydrated dulse as a replacement for salt, to instant ramen noodles, for which he created a packet of spices including dried dulse. “A lot of these were me thinking about how I can take an unusual product or an unfamiliar product like seaweed and put it into some forms that a lot of people identify with and understand,” Ball recalls. “My dad for example: He’s a guy from Chicago. If I give him a bunch of seaweed and say, ‘Hey, I think you should put this in your salad,’ he’ll look at me like I’m crazy. But if I put it into a crispy, crunchy snack like a chip or cracker, he’s more [likely] to try it and enjoy it.”

Because some products were not practical or feasible to produce on a commercial scale, and others were too unusual, Morrissey and Ball narrowed the field of products to about 20. Then, through various culinology and tasting events involving other food scientists and technologists, chefs, and restauranteurs, Morrissey and Ball further reduced the offerings to five products made with dulse, including a peanut brittle, a vinaigrette, and a rice cracker. The two that Morrissey and staff at the Food Innovation Center have decided to commercialize are the vinaigrette and the rice cracker. Restaurants such as Imperial in Portland, Ore., and Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport, Ore., have also been incorporating dulse from Oregon State University into menu items.

Development Challenges
Developing commercial products made with dulse and supplying the seaweed to restaurants brings challenges as well as opportunities. Consequently, Morrissey and his colleagues at the Hatfield Marine Sciences Center are pondering the logistics of increasing dulse production. “I think the biggest issue right now is—because we’re growing [dulse] in an aquaculture situation, not wild—getting things up to scale. How do we go from 50 pounds a week to 100 pounds a week or 200 pounds a week? Over the next six months, that’s going to be an important part of the research,” Morrissey says. He is optimistic that it can be done.

Moreover, he has a special interest in ensuring the operation’s success: Morrissey’s first position at Oregon State was at the Seafood Lab in Astoria, Ore., which is celebrating its 75th anniversary. “In 1990 a position opened at the Oregon State University Seafood Lab as director, so I took that position. I started more in the marine sciences in seafood, and I would say that’s still my first love, actually,” Morrissey reveals. In addition, Morrissey believes seaweed may be the answer to a larger issue: “There is a big debate that’s going on now in the United States: How are we going to feed nine to ten billion people in the year 2050? Seaweeds are a carbon dioxide user, so they actually take in carbon dioxide to produce glucose and carbohydrates. So not only are [seaweeds] sustainable in terms of the energy needed to produce them, but they are also good for the environment. You probably cannot find a more sustainable, ecologically friendly food item on the planet than seaweed,” he says.

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Crabstick for Everyone
Jae Park, a professor at Oregon State University’s Seafood Lab and director of the university’s Surimi School, shares Morrissey’s love of marine science and concerns about sustainability. Surimi is a gelatinous paste of fish protein used to make crabstick, a substitute for real crab, as well as other seafood products. It is made by heading, gutting, and grinding fish (usually Alaska pollock or Pacific whiting) and then washing, removing water, and freezing the remaining protein. Surimi is odorless with a creamy white appearance, and although Japan has been producing it for more than a thousand years, Park has been instrumental in refining the techniques for surimi processing and teaching those techniques around the world.

Park took a position at the Oregon State University Seafood Lab in 1992, so he and Morrissey worked together for many years. He established the Surimi School a year after he arrived in Oregon. “It was started as a forum for exchanging academic knowledge and industry knowledge,” Park says. The program became so successful that Park began offering more training options in the states and in other countries. Besides his original Surimi School at Oregon State, Park created a Surimi forum (a condensed version of the school), and surimi schools in Asia and Europe. “Through these [programs], I have trained nearly 6,000 people around the world,” he says. 

What is so special about surimi that causes people around the globe to attend Park’s classes? “Surimi is very functional. Any product for which texture is critical, surimi can be used as an ingredient. Nutritionally, crabstick can be high-protein or low-protein, depending on consumers’ needs,” Park explains. It can be formed into various shapes (crabstick, fish sausage, fish balls, sushi, etc.) and steamed, grilled, boiled, or fried, and the addition of flavor (such as that of shellfish) gives surimi high versatility as a seafood product. Park also sees the potential for surimi to have a great impact on Americans’ obsession with fried foods: “I have been preaching to my surimi school audience that Americans love fried food. French fries [are] 18% fat. Fried chicken is about 15% fat. Fried fish is about 11% to 12% fat. I’ve never seen any fried surimi seafood with a fat content exceeding 3%,” Park asserts. In addition, surimi seafood can be functionally enhanced with omega-3 fatty acids. More importantly, surimi is one of the safest and most ecologically sound seafood products on the market. “For surimi seafood, food safety issues are really, really low because surimi seafood is pasteurized. Canned tuna and canned salmon are sterilized,” Park points out. And the U.S. fisheries for Alaska pollock and Pacific whiting are well-managed and sustainable. 

Besides dulse and surimi seafood, Oregon State University performs research on abalone, salmon, and tuna as well as other fisheries and ocean ecosystems, making the university one of the most productive institutions for marine science and seafood research. As the university’s researchers continue exploring foods from the sea and developing products with them, they help ensure that seaweed and seafood will satisfy more palates and fill up more plates. 

A One-Stop Shop for Bringing Foods to Market 
A joint venture between Oregon State University and the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, the Food Innovation Center opened in 2000 as one of Oregon State University’s 15 experiment stations, and Michael Morrissey became its director in 2007. The center has been instrumental in the development of a wide range of agricultural food products, including popular brands of ice cream, tea, oatmeal, popcorn, energy bars, and candy—many of which are products in the natural and organic foods categories.

“We work a lot with food entrepreneurs. We probably see between 350 and 400 food entrepreneurs in a year, dealing with everything from product development to ingredient formulation to nutrition labeling, depending on what their needs are—and sometimes larger projects as well. We also have one of the better sensory testing laboratories in the Pacific Northwest,” Morrissey asserts.

The newest of the university’s experiment stations, the Food Innovation Center is a valuable resource not only for product refining and product development but also sensory testing, shelf-life studies, and packaging engineering. “We have a lot of people coming in for formulation work who have developed their products in their home kitchens, using ingredients they bought at grocery stores. We help them create commercial-ready foods so that they can be manufactured,” says Sarah Masoni, product and process development manager. Doretta Claycomb, senior food technologist, provides detail: “We use some of the analytical measurements—pH, water activity, and Brix—to help assess their product and then determine what kind of development work might be needed to improve the quality and safety of their product.”

And while ensuring that the products taste good is vital, packaging products properly is equally important. “Without packaging, there is no shelf life. What kind of material to select and what kind of barrier properties of packaging and what type of micro-environment you want to create all depend on the packaging materials we select,” emphasizes Qingyue Ling, senior research scientist.

Toni Tarver is senior writer/editor of Food Technology magazine ([email protected]).