Seaweeds - group forage

Even though we failed to find sea spaghetti on Saturday, we did come home with a range of other seaweeds. By far the most common being Carrageen moss, then Ulva (sea lettuce). This time we had a much larger group and so it was a bit complicated to arrange and organise all the carpooling, with the result that the tide was already on the way in when we arrived.
Now equipped with my dehydrator, I have been able to dry much of the Carrageen moss and Ulva.

Dried Carrageen Moss on Dehydrator tray, Ulva beneath

I am also making more Carrageen moss pudding, this time with lemon and strawberries (I know, they're not in season...). This recipe I adapted from the first one listed on the Flora Celtica page.

Carrageen moss, cinnamon bark and lemon - the first ingredients to make Carrageen pudding. I used water this time (instead of soya milk as it sticks and burns)

Some of the kelps we found included:

Saccharina (S. latissima) - I mistakenly called it Sargassum. It was formally classified as Laminaria (Kelp) - this is the seaweed people use to wrap fish, but Flora Celtica lists other uses. The real Sargassum, I believe we seen it there (in the deep water), but I don't know of uses for it.

Other Kelps, including (from right) Laminaria hyperborea, L. digitata and again the Saccharina.

We also found 2 of the 3 common Fucoids: Serrated (F. serratus) and Bladderwort (F. vesiculosus). I didn't find the spiralled one (F. spiralis). The serrated one was the dominant one, in fact it was pretty much all one could see on the shore at first glance.
Of the Ulvas, we found different forms (including the 'entromorpha' one and maybe claudophera), but it is the sheet like sea lettuce recommended as better for eating. While we did find Nori, it was loose (washed up) and so no good to eat as it was bleached by the sun and probably half rotten already.

Seaweed Foraging Trip - 30th March anyone?

There is another spring low tide at the end of March. This time we plan to go to Finavarra, co. Clare in the hopes to find some sea spaghetti there. If you're interested to come along, please get in contact. We'll be car pooling from Galway.

Me trying Sea Spaghetti (4 years ago)

Seaweed Collecting

Even though Seaweed is not eaten much in Ireland, seaweed collecting, by people living near the coast, goes back centuries. It has been used as a fertiliser for the land (like we see in The Field) and in the compost heap, burned as kelp and now it is experiencing a revival in the cosmetic industry, including use in creams and seaweed baths of course. All that said, I'd like to focus primarily on its edibility. While there may be very few potentially harmful species of macroalgae (seaweed) growing on British and Irish coasts, many are not so edible due to their structure or taste. The best known edibles include: Carrageen Moss (both species), Dulse/Dillisk, Sea Lettuce (Ulvas) and the kelps including sea spaghetti. Indeed sea spagetti is something interesting to try, and I've yet to find some culinary recipes that make good use of the Kelps.

Seaweed Foraging Trip

For gathering seaweed to eat, it is important to collect from a clean site, especially since toxins and all sorts of nasties easily diffuse in the water - and are absorbed by whatever is in it (including seaweed).

Me looking at seaweeds

With Wild Food Mary [see her blog here], we went seaweed collecting and identifying last Sunday out the coast beyond Spiddal.

Fucoids and Ulva

In the above photo, we can identify 3 seaweeds: Fucus vesiculosus, F. serratus and edible Ulva - sea lettuce.

Navelwort on wall

Afterwards, we found a nice surprise on the wall - Navelwort/Wall Pennywort - a yummy edible at this time of year, but has too strong a taste by the end of the summer, as I recalled from last September. PFAF say that this "can be eaten in quantity".







In the following days, besides freezing some seaweed, I used some Ulva to make seaweed scones...

Ulva Scones

Also I experimented with making Carrageen Jelly using the second recipe on this Flora Celtica Page. It actually turned out excellent, even if a bit too cinnamony. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I admit, using blackberries from the freezer instead of lemon. Anyway, here is a pic of the results:

Blackberry Cinnamon Carrageen Jelly made in Silicon Bun mold

And no, it doesn't taste like seaweed : )))

At this time of the year it much too early for sea spaghetti and some other seaweeds are small or old (last year's growth), however it was a worth while trip. In February or March, we may be going again, maybe as a group - so let us know if you are interested.

And now I am off to try out Dulse Scones.