The seaweed flora of the British Isles is one of the richest in the world and that’s why through this piece we’ll take a look at Foraging for Seaweeds. Of the 10,700 species of seaweed that have been identified around the world, more than 6%, 635 species, are found on…
Category: Seaweed Identification
Mayday traditionally marks the beginning of summer and May can often be one of the warmest and driest months of the year, foraging in may can be fruitful. Spring greens are still out in force and the warmer weather means the next wave of edibles is just beginning. So what…
Nori / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Edible Other Common Names: sometimes called Laver (not strictly correct, but they are very similar) Latin Name: Pyropia yezoensis, californica, tenera and other species. Note that Laver is in the Porphyria genus, but the seaweeds in each are often reclassified.…
Irish Moss Seaweed /Autumn / Winter / Spring / Edible Irish Moss (the source of carrageenan) Note: You may have heard more about Carrageenan than about Irish Moss, and you may be surprised to find controversial material after googling carrageenan! Irish Moss is the seaweed from which the fibre/carbohydrate carrageenan…
Serrated Wrack / All Year Round / Edible Other Common Names: Toothed wrack, Saw wrack Latin Name: Fucus serratus Physical Characteristics: A larger wrack that can grow to 60cm long. This is a brown seaweed with dark, wiry stems and slightly lighter, flat straplike fronds with distinctive serrations or teeth…
Channel Wrack / All Year Round / Edible Latin Name: Pelvetia canaliculata Physical Characteristics: Brown seaweed with a dark, wiry stem opening out into a handful of fronds, each roughly 5-15cm long. The fronds form swollen V-shaped tips that are much lighter in colour, approaching yellow. The fronds each have…
Sea Lettuce / All Year Round / Edible Other Common Names: Sea Salad Latin Name: Ulva lactuca Harvest Season: Often to be found washed up in the rock pools, sometimes you will be lucky enough to come upon a garden of sea lettuce growing altogether. Late spring to late Autumn…
Bladderwrack / All Year / Edible Other Common Names: Rockweed, Seawrack Latin Name: Fucus vesiculosus Harvest Season and Technique Notes: You will probably see bladderwrack all year around. Make sure to cut what you gather away from the rest of the colony to avoid damaging its chances of reproducing but…
Sugar Kelp / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Edible Other Common Names: Sea-belt, Sugar Wrack Latin Name: Laminaria saccharina, Saccharina latissima Harvest Season: This seaweed grows rapidly from winter until April, so can be a good find when other species have receded. Habitat: This seaweed is fond…
Laver / All Year Round / Edible Other Common Names: Nori (but not the varieties found in Britain) Latin Name: Porphyra spp, including umbilicalis, leucosticta, linearis. All these species are edible and functionally the same, and often professionals in science and foraging struggle to distinguish the precise species from each…