Guernsey's dried seaweed flavouring is a favourite of celebrity chef James Martin, who meets owners Ben and Naomi Tustin this Saturday (7 December).

The Guernsey Seaweed Company was founded in 2020 and its owners gather a variety of seaweed from Guernsey's shore, dry it and sell it as a food flavouring.

Ben says it's a healthy flavour enhancer:

"It has umami, it excites your tastebuds. It adds a depth of flavour."

He says it has taken time to get on the James Martin show:

"Just over two years ago we went to the Good Food Show at the NEC. We had a stall there. James Martin was speaking and we passed some seaweed samples to him.

Recently, his home economist phoned Naomi saying, 'We're really interested in your seaweed seasonings, we'd like to have them on the show.' So it took two years and a large slab of luck."

Ben says James Martin has been to Guernsey several times and loves the island and the product:

"He's absolutely obsessed with seaweed and using it in cooking. He couldn't have been more enthusiastic about us."

National TV exposure is effectively free advertising and Ben says they've been warned to expect a big sales boost:

"We've been told by the producers that we need to ensure that the bandwidth on our website can take several hundred thousand hits at the same time. We're expecting a very busy period after the weekend."

Ben Tustin says they extended their gathering season into winter, to cope with the anticipated demand: 

"We normally stop at the end of September but that was when we heard about the show. In the last two months we've had to collect enormous amounts because of the effect of the appearance on sales."