How to forage for edible seaweed

Seaweeds on the beach at West Bay in Dorset, UK
www.cookingforhealth.biz

Ten years ago it had never occurred to me to eat seaweed.

Just the thought of it made my nose wrinkle up.

Then I met Montse Bradford, a leading authority on healing with whole foods. After two years of training with Montse, I became a passionate advocate of the health benefits of eating seaweed.

In Britain, we live on islands surrounded by sea, yet seaweed is not central to the British diet as it is in Japan.

The Japanese use over 20 species of seaweed in their every day cooking and a number of species are commercially farmed.

Sushi nori

Apart from a few celebrity chefs and people who have been on courses like mine, few people in the UK even think of eating seaweed.

Despite the fact that UK waters hold about 630 species of seaweed, about 35 of which are palatable enough to eat, most seaweed eaten in the UK is imported from Asia.

Indeed, most references to seaweeds in the English language use their Asian names, such as nori and wakame, instead of their native names, such as kelp, dulse, laver and sea lettuce.

Japanese seaweed products sold in the UK

Ireland has a thriving seaweed industry, which according to the Irish Fishery Board, is worth €18m (£14.7m) a year.

Most of the Irish seaweed is however grown for speciality products including food additives and cosmetics, as well as "low value" products such as animal feeds, agricultural products, plant supplements and specialist fertilisers.

In Ireland seaweed is associated with poverty, making it a hard product to sell as a whole food to the mainstream.

If you are interested in gathering seaweed from your local beach rather than buying Asian seaweed from the supermarket or health food store, this is what you need to do:

1.  Make sure the beach is clean and there are no sewage effluent pipes in the vicinity

In the UK, the Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring  the cleanliness and safety of sea water. You can check the results for your beach on their website.

In the US, the Natural Resources Defense Council reports information on water quality of beaches.

If you live in another country, you will have to search the internet to check your local arrangements for water quality monitoring.

2. Check that you have permission to pick the seaweed

Every country has different rules, so you need to check and obtain permission if necessary.

In the UK, commercial gathering of seaweed requires a licence and there is no common law right to pick them (unless they are already detached).

In practice, gathering a small amount for your own use is unlikely to get you into trouble but it is always advisable to ask whoever owns the beach first - it could be the local council, the National Trust or a private owner.

3. Check the tide times

The best time to gather seaweed is at low tide.

Tide timetables are available in local newspapers, on the internet and/or in printed booklets in local shops.

In the USA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publishes tide times.

4.  Identify which species are present

Check marine algae identification guides for your country and region.

There are a few tropical species which are poisonous but the vast majority of seaweeds are safe to eat.

Some seaweeds are more palatable than others and the species commonly used for culinary purposes tend to be selected for their taste and ease of preparation.

All of the seaweeds in British waters are safe to eat but only a few of the 630 species available tend to be used in cooking:

• dulse - dillisk - Palmaria palmata
• carrageen - Irish moss - Chondrus crispus
• sea lettuce - Ulva lactuca
• laver - sloke - nori - Porphyra umbilicalis
• kelp - oarweed - tangle - kombu - Laminaria digitata
• sugarwrack - sugarkelp - Laminaria saccharina
• dabberlocks - wakame - Alaria esculenta
• pepper dulse - Laurencia pinnatifida
• bladderwrack - fucus - Fucus vesiculosus

Two good sources of information on seaweeds are The Seaweed Site for a general overview, and AlgaeBase which has a wealth of technical detail about seaweeds of all types.

5. Cut the seaweed with scissors or a pen knife, don't pull it off.

Seaweed doesn't have roots as such but it has a 'holdfast' that fixes it onto rocks. If you remove the holdfast, the seaweed loses its ability to regenerate.

Seaweed holdfast
Photo: Heiko Hübscher

6. Only pick what you need

In order to ensure conservation of seaweeds, just take a little here and there.

You only need small quantities for cooking so there is no need to gather sackfuls.

7. Wash thoroughly in fresh water to remove sand and sea life

8. Spread the seaweed out in the sun to dry, or on a towel in a warm dry place such as an airing cupboard.

Seaweed dries down to about 20 per cent of its fresh weight, so multiply by 5 when converting dry to fresh weight.

9. Dried seaweed should be soaked in fresh water before being used in recipes

Information about how to use seaweed in cooking will be covered in later blogs, so please subscribe to this blog if you wish to find out more.

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Easy tips for eating more fruit and vegetables

We all know that eating plenty of fruit and vegetables is vital for our health and well-being.

It just isn't always that easy to do.

So here are some ideas and tips to help you reach your 5-a-day and maybe even in time your 10-a-day - please CLICK to tweet.

The vitamins, minerals, fibre and phytonutrients contained in fruit and vegetables are essential for all bodily functions, such as digestion, detoxification, immunity, mood regulation and our hormone system. The more fruit and vegetables we eat, the better we look and feel.

Government dietary guidelines in the UK and the USA suggest eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

Cancer experts say that consuming 8 to 10 portions of fruit and vegetables per day is even better for protecting our health.

The last National Diet and Nutrition Survey in the UK revealed that the majority of the population is not even managing to eat the minimum guideline of 5 portions per day - only 13 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women met this goal.

Average intake of fruit and vegetables was 2.7 portions for men and 2.9 portions for women. Of the men surveyed, 21 per cent ate no fruit in the survey week and 2 per cent ate no vegetables.

Women did a little better, with 15 per cent eating no fruit and 2 per cent eating no vegetables. One per cent reported eating no fruit or vegetables in the survey week.

Mean daily consumption was lowest in the youngest group (19–24 years) at 1.3 and 1.8 portions for men and women respectively, and was highest in the oldest group (50–64 years) at 3.6 and 3.8 portions.

Here are some tips for increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables in your diet

1.            Buy many kinds of fruits and vegetables when you shop so you have plenty of choices 2.            Stock up on frozen vegetables for easy cooking, so that you always have a vegetable dish with every dinner 3.            Use the fruits and vegetables that go bad easily (peaches, asparagus) first. Save hardier varieties (apple, squash) or frozen goods for later in the week 4.            Keep fruits and vegetables where you can see them. The more often you see them, the more likely you are to eat them. 5.            Keep a bowl of cut-up vegetables on the top shelf of the refrigerator 6.            Cut up a selection of fruit and leave the plate on the table when the children come home from school - you will find that it all miraculously disappears 7.            Choose fresh fruit for dessert or make a simple fruit compote (e.g., apple and apricot). Cooking apples can be steamed in a matter of minutes and served with a simple sauce, e.g., peanut butter and rice malt syrup, or dried pears, cinnamon and tahini. 8.            Keep a fruit bowl on your kitchen counter table, or desk at work. 9.            Pack a piece of fruit or some cut-up vegetables in your briefcase or backpack; carry moist towelettes for easy cleanup. 10.       Add fruits and vegetables to lunch by having them in a soup or salad, or cut up raw. 11.       Soups are an excellent way to combine a wide range of different vegetables. Simple combinations allow you to create variety throughout the week. 12.       Experiment with fruit smoothies. Use a simple hand blender to blend a selection of fruits, e.g., blueberries, strawberries, banana with rice milk and some ground seeds. 13.       Experiment with home-made vegetable juices prepared using a juicing machine. 14.       Make a carrot and apple base and add vegetables such as cabbage, cucumber, celery, fennel, beetroot, radish and red cabbage. Herbs such as mint and parsley can also be added. Numerous combinations can be created, such as apple, cucumber and mint; carrot and beetroot; apple, red cabbage and beetroot; carrot, apple and celery; apple, celery and lime. 15.       Experiment with cooking vegetables in different ways: stir-frying, steaming and sautéing are quick and easy methods. Vegetables can also be baked – although the cooking time is longer, the preparation is quick. 16.       Add extra varieties of vegetables when you prepare soups, sauces and casseroles (for example, add grated carrots and courgettes to spaghetti sauce) 17.       Take advantage of salad bars, which offer ready-to-eat raw vegetables and fruits and prepared salads made with fruits and vegetables 18.       Use vegetable based juices such as carrot juice when preparing sauces.

Here is a handy guide I wrote suggesting over 50 ways to add portions of fruit and vegetables to your dishes.

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