THE ACQUAMARA STORY

Why on earth did I decide to filter and bottle Scottish seawater and sell it to the public? Well, it’s an idea that has been swimming around my head for almost two years.

It all started when my daughter, Farlan, was working on a school history project. We were looking at an old Scottish recipe for stovies, in one of Marian McNeill’s cookery books. In a throwaway line at the bottom, she mentioned that, instead of salting the water, folk who lived by the sea would boil the potatoes in seawater. Behind us, the north sea was crashing onto the beach at Dunbar. So we decided to give it a go.

It was a revelation. We made the stovies using our DIY-collected seawater, crudely fitered then straight into the pan. As well as adding salt, it seemed to make food taste more of itself. We experimented with salmon and broccoli as well as potatoes. Everyone loved them. I was hooked.

At the time I was working as an aid official for the British government, living between Dunbar and Glasgow, but my background in international aid and community development, living in ports and coasts from Leith to west Africa kept pulling me towards this idea. I carried on collecting seawater, cooking with it - by this time I had added seawater porridge to my repertoire - and plotting how to turn my new obsession into a business.

For it to work, I had to find a marine biologist for the science bit, a reliable source of fantastically pure seawater and someone to help me bottle it. I found the first in Fiji, the second in Berneray, one of the tiniest islands in the Outer Hebrides, and the third near home in East Lothian.

The logistics were sorted. But who would buy and use this product? I had a dry mouth when I arrived outside Tom Kitchin’s restaurant in Leith with an unlabeled bottle of seawater in a carrier bag, to persuade one of Scotland’s most exciting and talented chefs that he should give it a go. Luckily he loved the idea. Roy Brett, the chef-owner of Ondine, immediately poured some into his glass to taste. I knew that, with professionals of their calibre on board, we had a product that home cooks would also want to buy.

And now you can. Acquamara has brought a whole new dimension to my own kitchen and I hope you will be inspired to sample this wonderful natural, wild product and see how it brings out the best in whatever you are cooking. Whether you are poaching an egg or a lobster, or simply boiling tatties for the tea, Acquamara just makes it taste better. Try it and see.