Page 29 - Food&Drink magazine July 2021

The plum provides a vibrant pink colour, the wattle seeds a brown colour and nutty flavour, while the tangy light yellow flakes comes from lemon myrtle.
Leung explains wakame was introduced into the cold waters off the Tasmanian coastline so is classified as a noxious weed.
“For a long time, commercial fishers would pull it out and send it to landfill before it began being used for fertiliser and food,” Leung says.
The challenge for Leung was ensuring a consistent supply. “Harvesting is only possible for six weeks of the year, in the middle of winter and by hand. So, it is expensive, and on its own didn’t meet our goal of encouraging people to eat seaweed for nutrition every day,” sheexplains.
There are thousands of seaweed species in the world, says Leung, and while Australia has an excellent range, little is still known about many of them.
Leung looked overseas to organic and sustainable commercial seaweed farms, which gave her the ability to scale and launch new products. The result is the Rainbow Seaweed Range – a blend of five organically farmed seaweeds as well as the original 100% Australian, premium hand- harvested wakame products.
In 2019, Alg Seaweed won the Mondelez Global Table Future of Snacking Pitch competition, run by Mondelez International’s innovation and venture hub, SnackFutures.
“We wanted to capitalise on that, and the next step was always going to be snacks. We took a small Rainbow series range to market but then COVID-19 arrived.
“We’ve since launched the snacks and condiments, and we’re launching a chocolate next month,” she says.
The Seedy Bites snack bars are seed based, date and nut free with reduced sugar. They come in two flavours: Choc Coconut, Cranberry Burst.
The Rainbow Seaweed Flakes is a blend of five seaweeds and designed to be an all-rounder condiment. The Seasoning is inspired by the traditional Japanese rice seasoning furikake and the five seaweeds are mixed with organic Tasmanian chickpea miso and toasted black and white sesame.
Its Seaweed Salt has 63 per cent less sodium than table salt, making it a great alternative.
Leung says, “It is a mixture of our Rainbow Seaweed and sodium reduced salt, with a fine green powder, white salt crystals and colourful seaweed specs. Our products are nutritious, easy-to-use and flavourful. Seaweed is already foreign for many people. If you’re providing it to them in a formwheretheyhaveto
dehydrate it, chop it, cook it, prepare it, they’re not going to adopt it into everyday use.
“You’ve got to put it into a format which is not daunting – so the flakes, sprinkles and seasonings are an easy swap for consumers. Instead of salt, use this.”
Leung says the industry is growing in Australia as is consumer knowledge about seaweed and their willingness to try new things. Last year the Australian Seaweed Industry Blueprint was released, which has set the goal of growing the industry from $3 million to $10 million by 2025.
Leung welcomes the push as another part of addressing the silent epidemic of thyroid disease in Australia, as Alg Seaweed does its bit to become a daily part of Australians’diet. ✷
HEALTH & FUNCTIONAL FOODS
MANAGING ENERGY EFFICIENTLY
HRS provide a range of Tubular and Scraped Surface heat exchangers, components, modules and complete processing systems that help you to optimise production, make the most of raw materials, while reducing energy consumption, waste and emissions.
• Pasteurisation
• Sterilisation
• Aseptic Filling
• Evaporation
• CIP Systems
• Hot Water Sets
info@anz. hrs-he. com
AU: +613 9489 1866 | NZ: +64 9 889 6045 www. hrs-heatexchangers. com/anz
A NOXIOUS BUT
HEALTHY WEED
Leung launched Alg Seaweed from a commercial kitchen in 2017, where she hand-mixed each of the products.
Since then, it has expanded to seven products sold through its website, selected health food stores in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia and hospitality venues.
It started with its 100% Australian Range: Tasmanian Wakame Seaweed Flakes, and Bush Tucker Seaweed Sprinkle with Davidson plum, lemon myrtle and wattleseed.
The Wakame Flakes is its premium product. The dark green nail size flakes expand in water, offering a salty and umami flavour, or is crunchy when eaten dried.
The Bush Tucker Sprinkle combines the Tasmanian wakame with Davidson plum, lemon myrtle and wattleseed.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | July 2021 | Food&Drink business | 29