I’ve been busy planning the 2023 harvest cycle after I picked up my tide book. Did you know we can only harvest seaweed a maximum of 40 days a year? Those days are all between April and the end of July. We work with the moon phases (new and full moon) because these are the times during the summer when there are negative tides. This means we can get to the seaweed-filled rock areas in the ocean for about 1-2 hours each day (4-5 days in a row) to harvest as quickly as possible before the sea covers the rocks and seaweeds over again. It is vital to work! It is also very cyclical, like a woman’s monthly moon cycle.
This month, I want to introduce you to RED seaweeds. Three classifications of seaweeds are identified by color: red, brown, and green.
Category Archives: Seaweed Recipes
Ocean Ribbons!
Hello Dear Seaweed Blog Subscribers! I took some time off from blogging this past summer to complete the years seaweed harvest, and I am back with a great recipe for you! Ocean Ribbons or Lessionopsis littoralis are beautiful flowing ribbons of brown seaweed that grow on the outermost rocks of the intertidal zone. We harvestContinue reading “Ocean Ribbons!”
Bladderwrack/Fucus Seaweed for your Health!
Bladderwrack or Fucus distichus is one of the most popular sea vegetables growing along most coasts and has been used for centuries all over the world as medicine. The brown seaweed is the #1 superfood as far as iodine and polysaccharide content.
Sea cabbage makes great vegan jerky!
Sweet Kombu or sea cabbage (Hedophyllum sessile) grows in clusters like a cabbage bed. We harvest the blades that have bubbly indentations, as these are high in polysaccharides, which give this sea vegetable its sweet smoky aftertaste. Sweet Kombu is a brown seaweed. It can be eaten like a chip right out of the bag, as well as cooked in stews,Continue reading “Sea cabbage makes great vegan jerky!”
Wakame – the Women’s Seaweed
Wakame (Alaria marginata) on the west coast of California is a beautiful, magnificently abundant genus of marine algae. This nutritious, edible seaweed is considered a brown seaweed. The long, broad, gracefully flowing ribbons of Alaria cling to the rocks in the lower intertidal zones. The olive-green fronds grow to over 30 feet in length andContinue reading “Wakame – the Women’s Seaweed”
November Seaweed Nutrition Musings and Kombu Special!
Hello from my cozy home in the redwoods. I love fall and the smells of scrumptious comfort foods, either cooking in the oven or simmering on the stovetop. One of my favorite dishes to make during the chilly season is beans! I love all kinds of beans (pinto, black, fava, black eyed peas, lima…). YouContinue reading “November Seaweed Nutrition Musings and Kombu Special!”
Seaweed harvesting and Sea Veggie Gomasio
I have been sustainably hand-harvesting seaweed on the Mendocino coast from the same 10-12 locations since 1999. Lucky me! In those years, I have come to know these seaweed harvesting spots intimately, and have been there to see the ebb and flow of more than the 11 varieties of (kelp, seaweed, sea vegetables) that IContinue reading “Seaweed harvesting and Sea Veggie Gomasio”
Bullwhip Kelp
Nereocyctis luetkeana When we think of “forests” there’s one we often overlook — the offshore kelp forest, largely made up of Bullwhip Kelp or Nereocystis luetkeana. Nereocystis (Greek for “mermaid’s bladder”) is the largest in the family of brown algae, and found along the coast of California to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The fastest-growingContinue reading “Bullwhip Kelp”
Sea Lettuce!
July brings with it the boom of the seaweed harvest cycle for Ocean Harvest, as well as the finish of harvesting towards the end. At the end of this month, I will have spent 35+ days in the rocky intertidal seaweed beds at the lowest tides of the year. These days of harvesting are compactedContinue reading “Sea Lettuce!”
Seaweed pickles? Yes, Please!
As the heat rolls in this month, we’re thinking cool recipes. Raw recipes. And vegan! We’d like to share with you one of our easiest seaweed recipes, featuring the wonderful, the inimitable, the super-tasty sea palm. Sea Palm Pickles 1 cucumber cut into rounds 1 handful of sea palm, cut into small pieces 1/4 cupContinue reading “Seaweed pickles? Yes, Please!”