The small Scottish farm that is supplying ‘local superfood’ to top London hotel

An unusual west coast farm has recently started supplying one of London’s top hotels with a Scottish superfood. Rosalind Erskine finds out more

Every new year there are often a lot of conversations - usually online and on TV - about the food and drink trends for the year. These are often health related and, these days, can be heavily influenced by social media cooking trends.

One such trend highlighted for the start of this year, not for the first time, is seaweed. The UK is home to more than 600 native species of seaweed and, unlike countries such as Japan, this local bounty is very much underused in everyday lives here.

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Andy Morehouse - stock.adobe.com

As with seafood and fish, Scotland’s native seaweed is a prized commodity for those in the know, which is why brands like ishga - which uses Hebridean seaweed in its skincare products - has become one of the top spa brands in luxury hotels.

Not only that, sugar kelp has become one of the main botanicals in spirits such as the award-winning Harris gin. But what about adding seaweed, which is known as a ‘local Scottish superfood’, to our diets?

Top Scottish chefs, such as Stuart Ralston, Peter McKenna and the Contini’s have all used seaweed in their menu and it is the same across the UK, including at London’s The Connaught, which is home to a three Michelin Star restaurant - the chefs at which are now being supplied by a small Scottish seaweed farm.

Lawrie Stove, founder and owner of Seaweed Farming Scotland Limited, joined me on a recent episode of The Scotsman’s food and drink podcast Scran to discuss Scottish seaweed and how he and his team came to supply one of the top dining establishments in the UK.

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Lawrie Stove, Seaweed Farming ScotlandLawrie Stove, Seaweed Farming Scotland
Lawrie Stove, Seaweed Farming Scotland | contributed

Mr Stove and his team set up their seaweed farm in Argyll in 2018 and started farming in 2019. He said: “We've got marine licenses for seaweed farms, which have floating rope structures out in the open sea in Argyll, and we grow rope-grown Scottish kelp.

“We just grow the native species of kelp, the main ones being what's called Atlantic wakame and sugar kelp and another one called kombu. They're all found locally in the native environment on the west coast of Scotland.

“Because we harvest it quite young, it's kind of baby leaf seaweed that we're harvesting. It's got a very, very beneficial level of iodine in it, which is really, really important for your thyroid health.”

Mr Stove, who has worked on and around the sea and fishing industries in Scotland for years, added: “ We've deliberately chosen species and sites that are good for growing really, really good quality. The big USP with rope-grown seaweed is it's grown on ropes out in the open water, so it's nowhere near the shore. There's no issues of dogs running all over it or seals or seagulls or anything like that. It's out in the open water and it produces really, really good quality, and because of that, we're able to sell it as food.

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“This is similar to the aquaculture market because seaweed is a seafood product. That's the way we look at it. We can control when we harvest it, so we deliberately harvest it for the peak nutrient profile.”

It was a chance meeting with chefs, including Marco Zampes from the Connaught, in Scotland that led Mr Stove’s small farming business to supply the London hotel’s restaurant. On how this came about, Mr Stove said: “ [Industry body] Scotland Food and Drink ran a brilliant visit in September 2024, and there were some chefs that came up from the Connaught hotel in London. And we were lucky enough to meet them and we've sold our seaweed to their three-star Michelin restaurant in London.

“Marco and his colleagues came up and they went round seafood producers in Argyll and we got an introduction to that. Based on the quality of what we produced, they decided to have us as a supplier. That was really quite a proud moment to know that we've produced something that's that good quality because we'd always hoped to, but it’s not our decision what a chef chooses to buy.”

Lawrie - hand harvesting rope-grown wakameLawrie - hand harvesting rope-grown wakame
Lawrie - hand harvesting rope-grown wakame | contributed

While Scottish seaweed from Mr Stove’s farm will be used in London, the business is also supplying fresh produce a little closer to home.

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He said: “We've also had really, really good feedback from chef Michael Leathley at the Pierhouse Hotel. We're working with him this year on quite an interesting program. We're going to have fresh Scottish seaweed off our farm and in his kitchen in 20 minutes because we can deliver by boat. We steam past him every day.”

Chef Leathley said: “As a chef, there is something wonderful about using local produce and it is amazing to be able to trial this new and vital form of aquaculture at The Pierhouse. I can't think of a better accompaniment to seafood. It is important to support the local community and help a new venture. You couldn't get any more local. It is grown just on the other side of Lismore Island.

“It is an education for me as I am learning how best to use it in my dishes so it's testing my culinary skills as well. I'm enjoying the challenge. and ploughing through cookbooks to get inspiration. But seaweed is such an important and underutilised resource, but it is also the future.”

And what of getting seaweed into your food at home? Mr Stove said he sells packets of freeze-dried wakame that can be used in bread, baking, smoothies and soups. However, he has plans to get fresh seaweed to customers in the form of a Japanese-style wakame salad.

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“We're working with a freeze drying company up in Perthshire, who supply all the soft berries to the UK retail market, and they're doing the freeze drying for us,” he said. “So we're able to then mill it and produce a condiment or a supplement-type product with dried honeyberries and raspberries. This freeze dried product can be a flavouring and seasoning to give dishes that umami flavour, where it's not going to taste of seaweed.

“We've also been speaking to a rapeseed grower to work on a development of an infused oil as well as looking at a seaweed crowdie. We're looking to roll out, hopefully this year, and we're going to be attending some farmers’ markets and to sell the product directly to customers and that face-to-face contact will give us good feedback.”

While a lot of food trends will come and go, this healthy, local and abundant product is something that farmers like Mr Stove will be hoping is here to stay.

To listen to more about Scottish seaweed, search Scran wherever you get your podcasts.

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