Delicious dish straight from the North Sea: lobster seaweed processed into linguine with mushrooms, onions and fish. It turns green when cooked. — Photo: Dorte Nohrden/dpa
"The seaweed on these bare rocks is very slippery,” says Jayson Byles, as he balances on boulders at Kingsbarns Beach near Fife.
The view is pleasant now that rain has stopped. A New Zealand-born Scotsman with Maori roots and dreadlocks, he is searching for seaweed, wearing wellies, waders and a rusty brown cap. A pair of scissors is his only piece of equipment - he does not need a fishing rod or net.
Byles bends down repeatedly and points to plants such as Polysiphonia lanosa, Ulva lactuca or Himanthalia elongata, or brush algae, sea lettuce or seaweed, also known as sea spaghetti. These slippery plants actually resemble lettuce.
Gradually, different shapes, colours and flavours emerge from the slippery mesh. The subtle sea green spaghetti tastes crisp, fresh and nutty, anything but fishy, while the shaggy brush tuft algae are a bit like truffles.
Ulva lactuca, an edible type of seaweed that grows along the Scottish coast. — Photo: Dorte Nohrden/dpa
Full moon harvest
East Neuk, in the easternmost corner of the Fife region, is about an hour and a half's drive north of Edinburgh. The ebb and flow of the tides is vast, says Byles. Macroalgae get enough sunlight for photosynthesis and can cling to the rocks with their sticky, root-like organs.
People here forage for wild seafood when the tide is out. "I go out at full and new moon because the water recedes the furthest at spring tide," says Byles.
Then, this part of the North Sea is full of red, brown and large green seaweed plants. Anyone can harvest them. "Over a thousand macroalgae grow in Scotland," says Byles. "All of them edible, but about 14 species taste particularly good."
However, not all of them can be harvested at the same time. Sea spaghetti measures less than 20 centimetres in March, but can later be metres long. Sea truffles and sea lettuce are particularly tasty and nutritious in autumn. Under no circumstances should you eat dead, washed up or fishy-smelling seaweed. Go for fresh seaweed only.
Byles first learnt about edible seaweed in New Zealand. Love brought him to Scotland, where he worked as a team leader in the commercial seaweed harvesting industry. Then he and his family moved to Fife, a farming and fishing peninsula dotted with golden beaches.
He has been running regular foraging workshops including an open-air cook-off since 2019. His services are unique. "People come from all over the world," says Byles, who also supplies a local fish restaurant, the Dory Bistro & Gallery on the outskirts of Pittenweem village.
Then he jumps into a knee-deep pool of water and pulls up long, broad, fleshy brown algae leaves. "Laminaria digitata," he says. "We'll make our linguine pasta from this seaweed in a minute."
Homes along Anstruther beach front, a charming fishing village in the East Neuk of Fife, popular with day-trippers and holidaymakers who come to Scotland in search of the sea, the mountains, the culture and the tasty maritime food. — Photo: Dorte Nohrden/dpa
Forgotten superfood
Back on the beach, he fires up the mobile cooker and cuts the seaweed to the size of lasagne sheets. He makes small cuts in them and pulls the seaweed apart to make "sea linguine."
The seaweed turns green as soon as it enters boiling water. It takes only 10 minutes to cook – like ordinary pasta. He adds fresh onions and mushrooms to complement the seaweed's spicy umami flavour. Byles then wraps pieces of fish in fine seaweed. He serves the linguine and sautéed vegetables on plates. This chewy green "pasta" tastes delicious and easy to eat.
Common in Asian cuisine, seaweed can seem a little exotic for some Europeans. Yet, the vegetable, which is rich in protein, vitamins and minerals and is often marketed as a superfood, has been on menus across Scotland and Ireland and from France to southern Spain for thousands of years.
Jayson Byles comes from New Zealand and is a passionate forager of seaweed. — Photo: Dorte Nohrden/dpa
Golden rule
"Cold-hardy algae such as Palmaria palmata, also known as dulse, dillisk or Chondrus crispus - commonly called Irish moss or carrageenan moss - were particularly popular," says the New Zealander. People used to bake them into bread or use them to make cough medicine. But more intense farming techniques arrived and seaweed became overlooked.
Nowadays, Byles focuses on sustainability rather than commercial algae farming. "Harvest only as much as you need." The golden rule of successful seaweed harvesting remains, always cut off the leaves above the base. Never tear them out, because that is the only way they can continue to grow.
The scent of our delicious seaweed pasta has attracted curious walkers on the Fife Coastal Path. Sea green linguine is probably surprising compared to scones with clotted cream or fish and chips people usually buy around here. The coastal route runs from the Fife Peninsula through picturesque fishing villages and the university town of St Andrews.
Apparently, it took someone from the other side of the world to revive the superfood that grows so abundantly along Scotland's east coast. – dpa
