Sea fish have been a part of our mouth-watering cuisine for long. But soon seaweeds may also become our culinary delights due to their high nutritional value and easy processing. In the first-ever pilot project in the country, a seaweed, commonly called thread algae, found in abundance in Sunderban delta region, is being used to make bread, cookies and ice cream.
This is part of a climate change project undertaken by the Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) aimed at generation of alternative livelihood for the coastal dwellers.
“Sunderban is a red alert zone of climate change. Its impacts are manifested by sudden bursts of cyclones or tidal surge, erosion of land surface, erratic rainfall among others, whose intensity as well as frequency are on the rise,” says Dr J Sundaresan, lead scientist and coordinator of the CSIR Project called Vulnerability Assessment and development of Adaptation strategies for Climate Change impact with special reference to coasts and Island ecosystems of India (VACCIN).
The purpose of the project is to help the coastal dwelling communities come up with measures of mitigation and adaptation to climate change with stress on improving/ generating sustainable solutions for livelihood, he adds.
In Sunderban, thread algae (Enteromorpha intestinalis) is being used as a step in this direction, says Dr Abhijit Mitra, who is heading the project here. Rich in anti-oxidants, minerals and proteins, these seaweeds mixed with the most widely consumed bakery products such as bread and biscuits/cookies or ice cream, can help common man overcome his nutritional deficiencies, he says.
Dr Mitra is an expert on oceanography from the Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, Kolkata. He is being assisted by researchers, Dr Debabrata Bera, Dr Sufia Zaman and Prosenjit Pramanick. The team diligently collects samples of the seaweed from the remote islands, while sensitising local communities on their importance and means of extraction. Awareness campaigns have been conducted in at least six villages in this regard.
The seaweed mass is extracted in steam. It is enough for the extract to drip out of the seaweed, when it is bundled and tied up to a cloth suspended over steam. The green extract that starts pouring out, is then collected, says Pramanick. “We could not opt for expensive, hi-tech means, keeping in mind the condition and requirement of our target communities,” he adds.
This seaweed extract in its powder form is henceforth mixed with the dough of cookies/ biscuits/ bread, to get the nutrient enriched product. Similarly for ice creams too, seaweeds can be an excellent value addition, to reduce nutritional deficiencies caused by sugar, artificial flavours and make it rich in wide range of constituents as minerals (iron and calcium), protein (with all essential amino acids), vitamins and fiber. Efforts are on to link the villages to the bakery and ice cream companies, for sustainable income generation for the beneficiaries.