Shore Seaweed crisps all started with a mission to get more people eating Scottish seaweed.
“There was a barrier to people eating locally harvested seaweed,” says Keith Paterson, head of the Shore team.
“People were putting seaweed in jars, and things like that.
“It was a great product, but people would buy it once and wouldn’t know what the heck to do with it.
“It’s one of those things that would just sit in your spice cupboard.
“Seaweed is great, but it’s not part of natural cuisine and we don’t know how to cook with it.
“So we really came about to answer that question of how to make seaweed more accessible.
“Some people don’t think seaweed can be tasty, and we’re here to prove it can be.”
How are Shore Seaweed crisps made in Wick?
Shore have a team who harvest the seaweed in Wick.
“If you harvest 100 kilos of seaweed off the shore,” explains Keith, “you’ve only got ten kilos of dried seaweed, because 90% of it is water.
“It’s a specific kind of seaweed that is harvested for it.”
The seaweed, he tells me, is a secret. However, he says it is a brown seaweed which is “abundant” on Scottish coasts.
“We cut it with scissors, and we only take the tops of the plants,” Keith adds.
“That’s the best bit for food, but it also ensures that the plant regrows for next year.
“It is then taken from the shore, washed in the factory.
“Then it is air dried, which keeps all the minerals and nutrients in it.
“It is then milled into a powder, and that powder is mixed with quinoa flour to make the crisps.
“So the flour adds that texture, that bite and crunch, and the seaweed delivers the flavour and nutrition.”
What do customers think of the seaweed crisps?
Back in 2018, the Shore team had started to develop the brand.
But they experienced a “hiccup” in 2019 when they were told the initial product, a seaweed puff, “didn’t deliver on taste”.
In 2020, they launched the seaweed crisps as they are today.
“I think we have a long way to go before I consider things successful,” Keith admits.
“I was always convinced there was a space for a seaweed brand to flourish.
“Did I think in the dark times that we would get there? Maybe we had some doubts.
“But it is something new, original and unique.”
Now, he says, there are three types of customers they come across.
“I always enjoy when we convert consumers,” says Keith.
“There’s type one, who will buy anything seaweed, has been waiting ages for something like this and thinks it’s the greatest thing.
“You get the second kind who look at it a bit funnily, but are willing to give it a try. Those are the ones we can win over.
“And admittedly, there is a third kind of consumer who will never try seaweed, and think we’re completely mad for having a seaweed product!”
How did my first try of the new Shore Seaweed crisps go?
Shore Seaweed have a Peking duck and sriracha crisp flavour, which are both something new to me.
Keith says: “Something we look at is how consumers recognise seaweed, and what does it go with?
“A lot of consumers associate seaweed with Asian flavours.”
Keith actually recommends trying the Peking duck crisps alongside a Chinese takeaway, in place of prawn crackers.
I wasn’t brave enough to try them like that.
But I did have a taste of their new flavour, sea salt and balsamic.
This “ticked the flavour box” for the Shore team, but what did I think?
These were full of flavour and had a real crunch to them. The acidity of the vinegar tasted delicious with salt.
Knowing I was eating something with more nutritional value than the average crisps helped mellow my guilt a little bit too.
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