Seaweed fermentation for the development of novel food products

Fermentation has been used as a tool for enhancing the value and longevity of food resources even before the dawn of agriculture. It has been applied to both animal and plant-based terrestrial foods, but the development of fermented marine resources has, for the most part, excluded seaweeds. This chapter explores their use as a substrate for food fermentations, highlighting the latest advances in the field. A brief discussion on the fermentability of seaweed compounds and how these can shape potential bioprocesses is included, alongside a review of the most relevant categories of microbial cultures, including lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi that have been used so far in fermenting algal biomass for food applications. Seaweed fermentation represents a highly promising sector of food biotechnology, with evidence that fermentation can enhance the nutritional profile of seaweeds, develop novel flavors, and yield products with enhanced health-promoting effects.