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Mara Seaweed dried seaweed flakes and powders naturally improve flavours and provide unbeatable health benefits.
Nourish Your Body & Soul With Seaweed Seasonings
(UNITED KINGDOM, 1/25/2021)
Mara Seaweed is an international success and the UK’s most innovative seaweed brand. The company was created by two mums and their enthusiasm for Scotland’s natural larder, and then becoming experts in seaweed nutrition and flavour. Since 2011 the founders have been pioneering developments in harvesting, sourcing and processing seaweed.
In 2003, co-founders Fiona Houston and Xa Milne met outside their children’s school in Edinburgh. Having grown up in the countryside, they wondered how to connect the next generation to Scotland's edible resources. Fiona and Xa began foraging with their kids, and found themselves exploring the Scottish native seaweeds and how to cook them.
Fiona Houston and Xa Milne with their children.
In 2008, Fiona and Xa shared their knowledge in a book, Seaweed and Eat It – A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure. In 2016, Xa authored a follow-up book, The Seaweed Cookbook.
Fiona and Xa had discovered hidden treasure: seaweed was Scotland’s forgotten natural superfood, full of essential nutrients and complex flavours. They saw the opportunity to bring seaweed back into people’s diets, with a new brand of seasonings. Mara’s flakes are designed to be familiar like herbs and spices, making the health benefits of seaweed accessible to a wider audience.
Mara Seaweed’s mission is to Nourish Body & Soul by harnessing goodness from the sea and bringing it direct to your kitchen.
The Celtic Sea Spice Company, founded in 2011, gave rise to the Mara Seaweed brand. Launched in 2013, its mission is to ‘Nourish Body and Soul’ with pure, Scottish seaweed seasonings. Team Mara have worked hard to establish the UK’s first sea-to-shelf production facility in Edinburgh, enabling distribution to supermarkets nationwide and export to the US and beyond.
Mara Seaweed is harvested sustainably from the pure, wild waters around Scotland and Ireland, and they are passionate about the sustainability and safety of their operations. Mara Seaweed carries Soil Association Organic Certification for the harvesting and processing. The seaweed is meticulously processed and carefully packaged, so you can easily add delicious nutritional benefits to your meals.
Mara Seaweed is developing carbon positive seaweed farms around the UK coastline.
Before they leave for the beach, the highly skilled Harvest Manager studies the weather forecast, tides and sea conditions to ensure the safety of the team. This information is tracked down to the area of the seabed and time the seaweed was harvested, to ensure full traceability. This is important to guarantee quality seaweed products.
Mara has a license from the Crown Estate to harvest a 40km stretch of seabed around the East Neuk of Fife, and the team see themselves as curators. The location was chosen for its exceptional water quality, ensuring nutritionally dense seaweed. The team has a comprehensive understanding of seaweed species and their lifecycles and over five years worth of environmental mapping data to ensure the sustainability of their operations. This enables to harvest seasonally and sustainably. Mara Seaweed’s team expertise in the ocean is also matched by the prowess of their in-house technical team.
Nutritious hand-harvested seaweed.
Fully equipped with state-of-the-art safety gear, the team collects seaweed in all weathers. In a short timeframe around low-tides, harvesters must quickly and precisely cut seaweed by hand from specific designated areas. Mara is committed to supporting coastal communities and the environment. Harvesters working in both Scotland and with their partners in Ireland are trained to use techniques that allow seaweed to regrow healthily and vigorously.
To avoid contamination, the seaweed is packed into sealed sacks before being brought up the beach and delivered fresh, directly to the factory. Mara Seaweed is picked and processed within 24 hours to lock in flavour, ensure quality and secure maximum nutritional benefits.
Mara’s hand-harvested seaweed from pure, clean Celtic waters has a unique taste and nutritional properties unlike seaweed from anywhere else in the world.
Keep a tub on the kitchen counter to spoon in seaweed whilst cooking. You could also keep a tin on the table for shaking on seaweed flakes like salt and pepper.
Mara’s bespoke factory is a fully accredited sea-to-shelf seaweed production facility, processing seasonal seaweeds for the retail market with a fully traceable supply chain. This allows them to create delicious, nutrient-rich seaweed seasonings within 24 hours of harvesting.
Mara’s seaweed arrives at the factory in Edinburgh directly from the shore. The bags of fresh seaweed are weighed and recorded, then sorted by hand and inspected for quality.
Okonomiyaki with Shony.
Moisture is removed from the seaweed through a drying process which preserves natural flavours and retains essential vitamins and minerals.
Once dry, it’s milled and sieved into an easy-to-use format for delivering health benefits when cooking and seasoning. The white powder which forms on dried seaweed is natural mineral salts, packed with flavour.
After further tests for quality control the flakes are carefully packaged, ready to bring the health benefits and delicious taste of natural Scottish seaweed to dinner plates around the world.
Mara respects the ocean by hand-harvesting seaweedseasonally and sustainably from the wild, allowing crops to re-grow healthily.
Where possible, they work with coastal communities to provide support for seaweed harvesting initiatives.
About Mara Seaweed
Mara Seaweed is multi-award winning and loved by celebrities, Michelin star chefs and home cooks alike.
Edinburgh-based Mara are the UK’s first SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accredited seaweed facility, the experts in seaweed; sourcing, process, nutrition, taste.
Founded in 2011 by Fiona Houston and Xa Milne to harness Scotland’s forgotten superfood, last year Mara reached the final three of the BBC Food & Farming Awards for Best Producer, and have won numerous awards, including Best Artisan Product at World Food Innovation Awards 2016.
Mara Seaweed is committed to pioneering seaweed expertise, from harvesting and processing techniques to raising awareness of the benefits of eating seaweed.
Seaweed Tin Selection Box: enjoy Dulse, Shony and Kombu in beautifully packaged tins for an easy-to-use seaweed experience.
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