Our Story
A Warm Welcome...
Island Seaweed is dedicated to selling the highest-grade edible seaweed in the world. The seaweed we sell (in retail and wholesale volumes) is harvested directly from the West Coast of Ireland. Edible marine seaweed may be added to other foods or consumed as a superfood, all by itself, because it is rich in fibre, iodine, vitamins, minerals and Omega fatty acid compounds. We are keenly aware of its health benefits and the importance of harvesting from the ecologically sound, unspoiled pristine cold waters of the west coast of Ireland.
There are several types of seaweed well known on the Irish west coast and the list below is what island seaweed can provide for you;
- Irish Moss
- Ascophyllym nodosum
- Bladderwrack
- And our personal favourite – Dulse
Island Seaweed is able to access Premium Quality Seaweed from Ireland’s Pristine Shores. Our company mission is to provide the finest premium quality edible seaweed in the world. We are uniquely positioned to do this due to our location on the west coast of Ireland. This is the source of our seaweed: the non-industrialized coastline that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continually tests and verifies to be unpolluted and confirming that the marine ecosystem shows no signs of stress in our harvesting habitats.
The European Union goes one step further and has over the years assisted to improve all of Ireland’s waterways whether they are inland lakes, river systems or the coastal waterways where we harvest our seaweed. More information on this instruction can be found by visiting the Water Framework Directive website.
The crystal clean waters of the Aran Islands and Connemara provide the ideal environmental conditions for edible seaweeds to grow abundantly and retain their high content of nutrients.
“Island Seaweed is a small family business, the livelihood of a family born and raised on Inis Mor, which consists of a father and his two hard working sons. We grew up on the Irish coast, living on the amazing Aran Islands.
Our family in some way or another has been working with seaweed off the coast of Ireland for over 100 years and probably even longer. Our father did it, his father too, and today we carry on the tradition. We’d like to share our unique family story of our Irish-owned company with you and bring our organic-certified product from our home shores to your table.”
About Island Seaweed
Our passion for premium seaweed began at a very young age. We have maintained a family tradition where Eoin is in a position to work and live on the west coastline of Ireland, where time stands still. Reviving a fully balanced natural food supplement commonly used in our past and now incorporating seaweed into our daily meals and storing the perfectly dried herb for the winter months. It was common for my mother to mix Irish moss with our drinks when we were unwell, today Irish moss is well regarded as a medicinal superfood sea vegetable all over the world similar to dulse.
The Aran Islands
The history of the Aran Islands is deeply intertwined with recipes, folklore, medicine, and practical wisdom surrounding the usefulness of both non edible and edible seaweed. Like the few countries known for harvesting seaweed, seaweed food ingredients have remained a staple and a source of income here on Ireland’s west coast since ancient times.
We have the resources and experience to provide a quality product to you with all of our knowledge for personal or commercial scale use. It has taken many years to develop our skills to this level of expertise. Try our product to experience the difference!
Here, on the Aran Islands over the last 100 years, seaweed has been used for some of the following:
- As a source of food.
- To cultivate the islands fields and gardens (the Aran Islands were once predominately covered in limestone rock, today they are filled with luscious green fields which were of course cultivated with seaweed, sand and rain water.)
- A robust fertilizer.
- A source of income for hard-working families who in my younger days gathered, dried and then shipped seaweed to Scotland where they extracted the natural iodine from kelp at an industrial scale.
- And much more…
There are a lot of important considerations to be made when sorting quality seaweed. A machine or large commercial harvesting operation simply doesn’t spend the time to ensure the product is first-class each and every time, this can only be guaranteed by sorting through every piece of seaweed one at a time. It’s like living beside the sea, you develop a passion for all things that come from the sea, and in our case it’s to ensure that we are Eco-friendly in our approach and continue to sustainably harvest our seaweeds ensuring that each and every product that we deliver to you is what we promised.
Harvesting seaweed on Ireland’s west coast is not something that has begun recently, harvesting of seaweed is something that we grew up with, first helping our dad, then our cousin Mattie over the long summer months, and still to this day the coastlines are still remarkably vibrant and intact marine ecosystems.
Why Choose Atlantic Dulse Seaweed from Ireland?
Island Seaweed provides you with a sense of provenance that you will not find in commercial seaweed products. Our seaweed is a European wide certified organic product that is hand harvested from the unpolluted pristine waters of the Aran Islands and Connemara.
Unlike commercial industrial processors, our products are not over-harvested. Seaweed has been harvested for over 100 years in the west of Ireland and as mentioned above, the marine habitat is still healthy and thriving today.
The turquoise-tinted crystal clear waters circling the Aran Islands and Connemara coastline are what really set our product(s) apart from the competition. Ireland’s west coast has always been a quaint, less traveled with very little industry or big industrial businesses. Some of the reasons for this is because of the ruggedness of the coast and partly due to its distance from the closest urban town of Galway which is a 3 hour round trip.
Man-made pollution in the west of Ireland is very low. In fact, if you search for tourist information about visiting the Aran Islands or Connemara, you will find that they are known primarily for the quality artisan products, virgin beaches and untouched coastal waters.
Every summer for as long as we can remember, there have been basking sharks coming to our shores to feast on the abundance of plankton in our waters, a basking shark has a similar diet to that of a whale shark. When majestic mammals such as these come year after year to feast and bathe in the waters surrounding our home you know that the marine environment is perfectly maintained and balanced, all on its own. This will always be our home.
Conclusion
No matter what your motives may be for purchasing seaweed, purchasing a seaweed that is dried using the latest in technology, nutrient rich, unpolluted edible seaweed that is packed with natural goodness and harvested from the cleanest waters in the world; this contributes to the nutritional value and safety of the final product that you receive from Island Seaweed.
When you want premium seaweed that you can boast about in your products. Perhaps, it makes sense to purchase the highest-quality of seaweed that is hand selected by a family dedicated to providing the fine purveyors of the world with the best seaweed.
If you are simply a vegan or chef who cooks with seaweed and wants to try seaweed with an exceptional provenance, look any further than Island Seaweed. We supply the finest Dulse Flakes & Dulse Powder.
We can hopefully solve your requirement with our unrivaled seaweed products.
Licence No. 8007
“Bunaíodh Island Seaweed in 2018. Táirgimid feamainn d’ardchaighdeán le húsáid i dtáirgí bia agus cógas. Anseo in Island Seaweed táimid an-bhródúil as na modhanna lámhdhéanta ata againn, rud a chinntíonn táirge feamainne atá úr agus ar ardchaighdeán.
Nuair a bhí Eoin agus mé féin ag plé ár gcur chuige gnó, bhí a fhios againn gur gnóthas mór a bheadh anseo. Chuamar i dteagmháil le hÚdarás na Gaeltachta chun plé a dhéanamh faoinár roghanna sa réigiún. I gcomhpháirtíocht le hÚdarás na Gaeltachta, bhunaíomar saoráid shaintógtha i gCill Chiaráin chun feamainn de ghrád bia a thriomú.
Tá treoraíocht luachmhar ghnó agus infheistíocht curtha ar fáil ag an Údarás dár straitéis. Táimid ag tnúth go mór le bheith ag obair leis an Údarás ar feadh blianta fada amach romhainn agus muid ag forbairt ár ngnó i gConamara.”
