HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Imran Ahmad, a food scientist with Florida International University, has ideas for how the disgusting Caribbean sargassum could be turned into something delicious.

There is so much of it that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came up with a tool to warn when the risk of seaweed on beaches is higher.

“Unlike other seaweeds this is not edible,” Ahmad said.

That is where processing comes in. They have to strip the heavy metals out of it and any bacteria.

“We were thinking about, ‘Can we look into in more detail what are the components and it might be something useful to utilize.’ So, thats how it started,” Ahmad said

Researchers at a food science lab are cleaning it, drying it out, grinding it, and turning it into a powder that maybe one day can be used as a thickening agent.

Ahmad said it could “be a component of soups, juices like orange juice, and even ice cream, to make things thicker, so think seaweed next time you grab that bog, bowl of cookie dough ice cream.”

Researchers hope to make Caribbean sargassum useful, perhaps on ice cream

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Jeff Derderian

Andrea Torres