The Council of Agriculture announced yesterday that it had developed an artificial cultivation method for the “caviar of seaweeds,” also known as umibudo or “sea grapes,” a highly nutritious and low-calorie aquacultural product.
Sea grapes are a fern algae that grow numerous tiny green translucent bubbles on their stems instead of leaves. The bubbles take the shape of tiny grapes, and they have a texture like that of caviar.
Sea grapes are highly nutritious with a low calorie content, but are mainly imported from Japan and the Philippines, the council said, adding that the quality was often affected during transportation.
Although there are several species of fern algae in Taiwan, it said, growing conditions are often affected by climate and seasonal changes,
However, the Taiwan Fisheries Research Institute’s Tungkang Biotechnology Research Center has overcome the problems by developing an artificial growing environment for cultivating sea grapes.
Associate research fellow Su Huei-mei (蘇惠美) said the sea grapes now being cultivated at the center are Caulerpa microphysa, a species of fern algae found in Taiwan, which have a similar taste and quality to the ones sold in Japan.
“The sea grapes can only grow to about 1cm long at sea, but with a controlled indoor growing environment, the sea stems of the sea grapes can now grow as long as 30cm,” she added.
Moreover, the council said the cultivated sea grapes can be harvested every 30 days and each square meters can produce about 8kg of sea grapes.
In Japan, the stems of Caulerpa lentillifera only grow to about 10cm long and only about 2.5kg to 4kg per square meter can be harvested, it said.
The council said sea grapes are usually eaten fresh after being lightly soaked in clean cold water, and they can also be used in salads or for seasoning seafood.
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