Introducing Mermaid Medley — 66% dark chocolate with native Australian seaweed and fruit
There's a quiet paradox at the heart of human health. Iron is the most abundant metal on Earth by mass, the red thread running through Australia's own soil — and yet iron deficiency remains the most widespread nutritional deficiency in the world. It's the leading nutritional contributor to maternal mortality, and it touches billions of lives, most heavily the lives of women and children.
Iron isn't just another nutrient. It's the force that carries oxygen through every cell of your body — the difference between vitality and exhaustion. When it runs low, everything dims: energy, focus, immunity, and, in early life, brain development itself.
We've been thinking about this problem for a long time. And we think part of the answer has been sitting in the ocean all along.
The iron paradox
Earth's crust is roughly 5.6% iron by weight. The red dust that colours much of Australia is iron oxide. And still, around one in eight Australians don't get enough iron in their diet. Globally, the picture is starker: iron deficiency is a factor in a significant share of maternal deaths and affects roughly one in three women of reproductive age.
The problem was never scarcity. It's absorption and access — whether the iron we eat is in a form our bodies can actually use, and whether iron-rich food is something people genuinely want to eat.
Why seaweed
Seaweed is one of the most overlooked nutritional powerhouses available to us, and certain species are remarkably rich in bioavailable iron. Green seaweeds in particular carry more iron than most — and some can hold many times the iron of spinach, gram for gram.
The inspiration for this bar comes from a striking piece of research out of India, where including iron-rich green seaweed in fortified chocolate was shown to help reduce anaemia in teenage girls over a matter of weeks. It was a small study with a big implication: that the humblest of pleasures — a square of chocolate — could carry real nutritional weight when paired with the right seaweed.
Beyond iron, seaweed brings copper, which further supports iron absorption, along with a spectrum of other micronutrients rarely found together in a single plant source. And it's grown with a lightness the planet appreciates: no freshwater, no arable land, no fertiliser.
Meet Mermaid Medley (the 2nd in case you are a fan of our first)
So we made it real again and reinvented Mermaid Medley as an ocean-inspired collaboration between our seaweed science and the craft of Canberra chocolatiers Jasper + Myrtle — 66% dark chocolate studded with seaweed-infused fruit bites, using our native Australian sea lettuce (Sp. 84).
Inside each bar: apple, pear, pineapple, banana, cherry, passionfruit and beetroot, all carrying the nutrient boost of Australian-grown seaweed, finished with a touch of salt. A uniquely indulgent, nutrient-boosted treat from the sea — and quite possibly the kindest luxury gift you can give. Kind to the person unwrapping it, and kind to the planet it came from.
The vitamin C connection
One more thing worth knowing. Pairing iron with vitamin C dramatically improves how much your body absorbs — vitamin C helps convert iron into the form we take up most easily. That synergy matters most for plant-based iron, which is exactly what seaweed offers. It's a small pairing with an outsized effect, and a good reason to reach for fruit-forward, seaweed-rich snacks alongside the chocolate.
A kinder kind of indulgence
Iron deficiency is a global challenge, but it's one we can meet with better, more delicious choices. Mermaid Medley is our small, edible argument that nutrition and pleasure were never meant to be opposites — that the smartest food can also be the most irresistible.
Because a healthier world really does begin with every bite.