US seafood company North Coast Seafoods has announced that its kelp meatballs are now available Food service including K-12 school systems and higher education institutions.
“The most exciting food development I’ve seen in my 45-year career”
North Coast describes kelp meatballs, which can also be sold as nuggets, as a “one-of-a-kind” plant-based food that’s delicious and easy to prepare. Made primarily from sea-grown kelp, the meatballs also contain ingredients like green chickpeas, brown rice and spices, and are naturally vegetarian and gluten-free.
To create the product, North Coast partnered with Atlantic Ocean Farms to harvest kelp grown in the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine.
“Chefs and foodservice operators ask me all the time, ‘What’s new?’ said Chef Andrew Wilkinson, North Coast Chef Director of Research and Development. “My immediate reaction was ‘kelp from Maine!’, the most exciting food development I’ve seen in my 45-year career. These sea vegetables are local, healthy, sustainable and delicious.”
Nutritious and ocean-friendly
Kelp is known to be one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world, containing high amounts of antioxidants, iodine, magnesium, folate, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and more calcium than milk.
Seaweed farming also requires minimal resources. According to North Coast, kelp is a “Hyper-efficient, regenerative, zero-input vegetables” that require no fresh water, land, fertilizers or pesticides to grow and harvest. Kelp also offers an economic opportunity for Maine lobstermen who want to diversify their income, the company says.
dear student
In Massachusetts, the meatballs have been introduced to public schools in the city of Cambridge as “Kelp Bites”, and the product has become a hit with students who love its unique taste and healthy ingredients. Report The Boston Globe. Kelp meatballs are also reportedly gaining popularity at higher education institutions such as Boston College.
North Coast’s Kelp Meatballs are now available for retail and wholesale orders.
“At North Shore, we focus not only on seafood sustainability but on leaving the planet a better place than we found it,” said Rich Polins, NCS principal. “Incorporating kelp into our products, like Kelp Meatballs, moves us closer to that goal every day by enabling us to reduce our carbon footprint, support local economies and save the Gulf of Maine while offering nutritious, sustainable food solutions. It’s a win any way you look at it.”