There’s a new strain of edible seaweed in town, and word on the street is this seaweed has twice the nutritional value of kale and just as much protein as the real thing. Oh, and it tastes like bacon.

Were the sushi gods listening to my prayers that bacon should creep its way into Japanese cuisine? Or is this some weird coincidence? Either way, I need it now.

Deemed the new “superveggie,” bacon seaweed is officially called dulse. Actually, that’s the name of the strain that was recently patented by Oregon State University. Yeah, that’s right, they created it.

seaweed

GIf courtesy of giphy.com

Dulse apparently looks like red lettuce and grows along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. It was originally cultivated to feed abalone, but when OSU realized its potential for human consumption, they knew they had to figure out how to put it on the market.

seaweed

Photo courtesy of healthjunket.com

There’s no industry for dulse at the moment, so don’t run to your nearest grocery store just yet. But it definitely has potential and OSU is looking into it, so get your hopes up.

seaweed

Gif courtesy of giphy.com

I mean, just think about the possibilites: dulse sushi, dulse salad, bacon dulse tomato sandwiches, fried dulse (aka healthy bacon). It’s unreal.

Check out this video to learn more about your new favorite seaweed: