NEWPORT, Ore. – Oregon State University researchers have patented a new strain of a succulent red marine algae called dulse that grows extraordinarily quickly, is packed full of protein and has an unusual trait when it is cooked. 
 
 This seaweed tastes like bacon. 
 
 Dulse (Palmaria sp.) grows in the wild along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines. It is harvested and usually sold for up to $90 a pound in dried form as a cooking ingredient or nutritional supplement. But researcher Chris Langdon and colleagues at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center have created and patented a new strain of dulse – one he has been growing for the past 15 years. 
 
 This strain, which looks like translucent red lettuce, is an excellent source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants – and it contains up to 16 percent protein in dry weight, Langdon said. 
 
 “The original goal was to create a super-food for abalone, because high-quality abalone is treasured, especially in Asia,” Langdon pointed out. “We were able to grow dulse-fed abalone at rates that exceeded those previously reported in the literature. There always has been an interest in growing dulse for human consumption, but we originally focused on using dulse as a food for abalone.” 
 
 The technology of growing abalone and dulse has been successfully implemented on a commercial scale by the Big Island Abalone Corporation in Hawaii. 
 
 Langdon’s change in perspective about dulse was triggered by a visit by Chuck Toombs, a faculty member in OSU’s College of Business, who stopped by Langdon’s office because he was looking for potential projects for his business students. He saw the dulse growing in bubbling containers outside of Langdon’s office and the proverbial light went on. 
 
 “Dulse is a super-food, with twice the nutritional value of kale,” Toombs said. “And OSU had developed this variety that can be farmed, with the potential for a new industry for Oregon.” 
 
 Toombs began working with OSU’s Food Innovation Center in Portland, where a product development team created a smorgasbord of new foods with dulse as the main ingredient. Among the most promising were a dulse-based rice cracker and salad dressing. 
 
 The research team received a grant from the Oregon Department of Agriculture to explore dulse as a “specialty crop” – the first time a seaweed had made the list, according to Food Innovation Center director Michael Morrissey. 
 
 That allowed the team to bring Jason Ball onto the project. The research chef previously had worked with the University of Copenhagen’s Nordic Food Lab, helping chefs there better use local ingredients. 
 
 “The Food Innovation Center team was working on creating products from dulse, whereas Jason brings a ‘culinary research’ chef’s perspective,” said Gil Sylvia, director of the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. “The point that he and other chefs make is that fresh, high-quality seaweed is hard to get. ‘You bring us the seaweed,’ they say, ‘and we’ll do the creative stuff.’” 
 
 Several Portland-area chefs are now testing dulse as a fresh product and many believe it has significant potential in both its raw form and as a food ingredient. 
 
 Sylvia, who is a seafood economist, said that although dulse has great potential, no one has yet done a full analysis on whether a commercial operation would be economically feasible. “That fact that it grows rapidly, has high nutritional value, and can be used dried or fresh certainly makes it a strong candidate,” he said. 
 
 There are no commercial operations that grow dulse for human consumption in the United States, according to Langdon, who said it has been used as a food in northern Europe for centuries. The dulse sold in U.S. health food and nutrition stores is harvested, and is a different strain from the OSU-patented variety. 
 
 “In Europe, they add the powder to smoothies, or add flakes onto food,” Langdon said. “There hasn’t been a lot of interest in using it in a fresh form. But this stuff is pretty amazing. When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed. And it’s a pretty strong bacon flavor.” 
 
 The vegan market alone could comprise a niche. 
 
 Langdon, a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at OSU and long-time leader of the Molluscan Broodstock Program, has two large tanks in which he can grow about 20-30 pounds of dulse a week. He has plans to up the production to 100 pounds a week. For now, they are using the dulse for research at the Food Innovation Center on dulse recipes and products. 
 
 However, Toombs’ MBA students are preparing a marketing plan for a new line of specialty foods and exploring the potential for a new aquaculture industry. 
 
 “The dulse grows using a water recirculation system,” Langdon said. “Theoretically, you could create an industry in eastern Oregon almost as easily as you could along the coast with a bit of supplementation. You just need a modest amount of seawater and some sunshine.” 
 
 The background of how Langdon and his colleagues developed dulse is outlined in the latest version of Oregon’s Agricultural Progress at : http://bit.ly/1fo9Doy 

 Researchers from Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center say they’ve created and patented a new type of seaweed that has the potential to be sold commercially as the next big superfood. 
 
 The reason? It tastes just like bacon, they claim. 
 
 The bizarre but tasty creation is actually a new strain of red marine algae called dulse that is packed full of minerals and protein and looks like red lettuce. 
 
 Dulse normally grows in the wild along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines and is harvested, dried and sold as a cooking ingredient or nutritional supplement. 
 
 “Dulse is a superfood, with twice the nutritional value of kale,” said Chuck Toombs, a faculty member in OSU’s College of Business and a member of the team working to develop the product into a foodstuff. “And OSU had developed this variety that can be farmed, with the potential for a new industry for Oregon.” 
 
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 The team began researching ways of farming the new strain of dulse to feed abalone, but they quickly realized its potential to do well in the human-food market. 
 
 “There hasn’t been a lot of interest in using it in a fresh form. But this stuff is pretty amazing,” said chief researcher Chris Langdon. “When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed. And it’s a pretty strong bacon flavor.” 
 
 They’ve received a grant from the Oregon Department of Agriculture to explore dulse as a “special crop” and are working with the university’s Food Innovation Center in Portland and several chefs to find out ways dulse could be used as a main ingredient. 
 
 Though there is currently no commercial operation that grows dulse for human consumption in the U.S., the team is confident the seaweed superfood could make it big. If it really does taste like bacon, that would be no surprise at all. 
 
 Read next: The New Superfruit You’ve Never Heard of But Need to Try 
 
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 Om nom nom. Flickr Researchers at Oregon State have patented a new strain of seaweed that tastes like bacon when it's cooked. 
 
 The seaweed, a form of red marine algae, looks like translucent red lettuce. It also has twice the nutritional value of kale and grows very quickly. Did we mention it tastes like bacon? 
 
 According to Oregon State researcher Chris Langdon, his team started growing the new strain while trying to find a good food source for edible sea snails, or abalone, a very popular food in many parts of Asia. The strain is a new type of red algae that normally grows along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines. 
 
 But Langdon realized he had his hands on something with a lot more potential when his colleague Chuck Toombs visited his office and caught a glimpse of the growing seaweed. Toombs said he thought the bacon-seaweed had "the potential for a new industry for Oregon," he told Oregon State in a press release. 
 
 Toombs then began working with the university's Food Innovation Center, which created a range of foods with the seaweed as its main ingredient. 
 
 Irish Moss and Pepper Dulse. Flickr/Akuppa John Wigham Langdon said no US companies grow red algae for people to eat, but the seaweed had been consumed by people in northern Europe for centuries. 
 
 "This stuff is pretty amazing," Langdon told OSU. "When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed. And it's a pretty strong bacon flavor." 
 
 Though no analysis has been done yet to find out whether commercializing the bacon-seaweed would be practical, the team thinks the vegan and vegetarian markets may be interested. Toombs' MBA students are hard at work on a marketing plan for a new line of specialty foods. 
 
 Some red algae is sold in the US now, but it is a different strain from the one harvested at OSU. Langdon says he is growing about 20 to 30 pounds of the stuff a week, but he plans to more than triple the production.
– Researchers at Oregon State University have received a patent for a new strain of seaweed they developed, and there's only one thing you need to know about it: “When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed," chief researcher Chris Langdon says in an OSU dispatch. "And it’s a pretty strong bacon flavor.” Some less important details: It's a strain of a red algae called dulse, which grows in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and it's packed with vitamins and minerals, reports Time. Dulse is usually sold in dried form as a cooking ingredient or nutritional supplement, mostly in Asia and Europe. But if the researchers are right, it could eventually take off in the US because, bacon. Langdon's team didn't set out to create a new food, at least for humans. They were trying to figure out a way to grow dulse faster as food for sea snails called abelone, popular in Asia. When a colleague from the university's College of Business spotted it growing in Langdon's office, however, he recognized the potential and began working with the school's Food Innovation Center to develop meals. “Dulse is a super-food, with twice the nutritional value of kale,” says that colleague, Chuck Toombs. “And OSU had developed this variety that can be farmed, with the potential for a new industry for Oregon.” Landgon is growing about 25 pounds a week, though Business Insider notes that no analysis has been done on whether ramping up to commercial scale is viable. (Here's why bacon smells so good.)