A popular pizzeria is inspiring adventurous diners to dive in and taste its new seaweed flavoured dish, harvested from Sidmouth seafront.
The Marine has joined forces with Tony Coulson, of Ebb Tides, to use the seaweed he collects near The Esplanade venue to add to its range of local ingredients.
It is the second collaboration Tony has with a Sidmouth business, after supplying seaweed to The Dairy Shop to use in its range of gins, rums and vodkas.
Tony started his business in May 2016 and used his knowledge of aquaculture before producing his own products. He says seaweed was perfect for pizza due to it’s ‘umami’ taste.
Tony said: “I sell it because of its flavour and goodness. When something is bland, the flavour of the sea weed is quite strong.
“I was doing some research looking at different species of seaweed. It’s gradually growing as there is a demand for seaweed in food and drink from manufacturers. There are 1,000 species, I’ve only used eight types, some of them are not great to try and I guess there are around 50 different species off Sidmouth.
“It’s the way food movement is going - people are sourcing locally, the environmental aspects as well.”
Ebb Tides currently offers a range of seasoning like salt and pepper - kelp, which has a savoury taste; dulse - that has a rich and smokey flavour; and sea salad - which is a mix of four different seaweeds.
Pizza chef Rob Papworth says he has enjoyed working with the ingredient after it became part of the special’s menu last week.
Rob said: “It comes in at the end of the cooking as it’s already dehydrated. We put it on to crisp it up. It’s very easy to manage and easy to store.
“It would be good to add onto the menu because of the local nature of it.”
The Marine’s trained pizza chefs use traditional Italian methods and ingredients, as well as locally sourced products.
Phil Borrett, owner of The Marine, said: “People have been interested. We have been talking about it and it does people a time to try these new things.”
It is not the only interesting item on the Marine’s menu, with the pizzeria also offering a Christmas-themed calzone and pizza dough mince pie.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here