A New Zealand company is looking to create a seaweed drink.
Fermenting seaweed at AgriSea NZ. Photo: AgriSea New Zealand Ltd
AgriSea New Zealand has been turning seaweed into fertilisers and animal health products for more than 25 years.
Now it is working on a range of seaweed drinks for people.
The project, in prototype stage, has been given a $48,000 funding boost from the High-Value Nutrition National Science Challenge.
AgriSea general manager of science and research Clare Bradley said the company wanted to tap into the market for highly nutritious health foods.
"We are fermenting kelp to be used as a functional food ingredient," Bradley said, explaining it was "like a seaweed kombucha".
"We have a whole range of concoctions that we've developed. We've made them from a couple of different seaweeds, some are a colourless beverage, and some are thick on the tongue because a whole lot of alginates come out through our fermentation process.
"People have this idea that all seaweed is sushi-tasting or like a seaweed salad, but that couldn't be further from the truth for some of our seaweed species.
"They're really high in long term sugars so it can actually be quite sweet and caramelly especially for some of our brown kelp."
AgriSea hoped to have a final product ready by the middle of 2022 and available to both domestic and export markets.
The company collects beach cast seaweed from remote communities and is developing a seaweed farm in the Hauraki Gulf.