Describe your products in 3 words.

Nourishing, pure, delicious

How did you come up with the idea for this product?

In 2003, we met outside our children’s school in Edinburgh. We realised we’d both grown up in the countryside, by the Scottish Borders, and shared a love of traditional Scots cooking and natural ingredients. We wanted to connect the next generation to Scotland's amazing natural larder, so we began foraging with our kids. This led to exploring native seaweeds and how to cook with them. By 2008, we had accumulated enough knowledge for a book, Seaweed and Eat It – A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure. We also wrote about wild foods in a weekly column, and ran foraging classes. Chefs started coming on our seashore foraging courses, and wanted to know more about the umami-rich flavours. So Fiona taught herself about the different species of seaweed, and the best ways to harvest and dry them. She travelled to Ireland too, to explore their seaweed harvesting traditions. We felt like we had discovered hidden treasure: seaweed was a forgotten natural superfood, full of essential nutrients and complex flavours. We saw the opportunity to bring seaweed back into modern diets, with a new line of seasonings. It was time to build a new Scottish food brand.

What makes your product special?

At Mara, we really care about our seaweed. We respect the ocean and know we are its custodians. Our seaweed is hand-harvested seasonally and sustainably from the wild, allowing crops to re-grow. We use our years of experience to select healthy plants from pristine waters and dry them at low temperatures, concentrating the nutrients so that even a teaspoon a day will deliver health benefits. Seaweed is a truly natural superfood. It contains a unique combination of all 56 vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and trace elements essential for human health. This harmonious balance of elements in seaweed makes it more nutritionally potent than any land vegetable. For example, calcium needs potassium and magnesium for optimum absorption by the body, and seaweed is high in both. The nutrients in seaweed are also present in their natural form, so they’re more readily absorbed and processed. Mara’s seaweed flakes are designed to be familiar like herbs and spices. We wanted to make the health benefits of seaweed accessible to everyone, regardless of their talents in the kitchen.

What has been the best part of your experience?

Bringing our passion for seaweed to our customers. Speaking to seaweed fans who are enjoying the benefits of Mara Seaweed is always a pleasure. It can be someone’s first taste, when their face lights up as that special savoury flavour hits them. Other times it’s someone whose wellbeing has improved thanks to the health benefits of seaweed – clearer skin, fewer mood swings, weight loss etc. It’s nice to see how you’ve made an impact: it makes the journey worthwhile.