| February - March
2002
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
WaveLength is printed on gloss, recycled, ancient rainforest-free paper
 Know
Your Neighbours:
Succulent Seaweeds
Bryan Nichols © |
Well it's time to get back into Northwest waters, back to my marine biological
roots. This time we'll switch Kingdoms though, from Animalia to Plantae.
The difference? It gets blurry at the microscopic level, but to put it simply-animals
get their food by eating it, while plants make their own with solar power.
Ecologically, plants are the bottom of nearly every food web on the planet.
They provide the energy for nearly all life as we know it.
In the ocean, almost all the plants are algae, which is Latin for seaweed
(really) and comes from root words like rancid, moldy & rotten (it
must have been coined at low tide on a hot summer day). Algae are much
more variable than the woody and flowering plants we are used to on shore.
They range from invisible (ok, microscopic) to huge (like giant kelp).
What's more, they aren't necessarily green but can be brownish, reddish,
purplish and all sorts of other colorful -ishes.
Now while you're out there paddling, what sorts of marine plants are
you likely to experience? They take us back a long, long time ago to an
atmosphere far, far different from now.
Blue-green algae often form scummy, gelatinous growths in pools
or along high tide lines where there is some fresh water. The individual
cells do not have a nucleus, linking them with ancient bacteria. VERY
ancient bacteria. Fossils looking remarkably like them are the oldest
signs of life we have found-over three billion years old. Their distant
ancestors literally changed the atmosphere of the planet, puffing out
the oxygen that made it possible for all us multicellular animals to evolve.
Diatoms are single celled algae with silicon in their cell wall.
Near shore they form brown scummy colonies that coat other things. Offshore,
free floating diatoms are essential to marine food chains. In season they
can make the water murky with productivity. Some are responsible for those
tiny green bioluminescent flashes you see on summer nights; others can
trigger toxic "red tides" that kill fish and make bivalves poisonous.
Green algae we can finally see without magnification, though even
large species are often only one or two cells thick. Lots of chlorophyll
(the solar engine) makes them bright green.
Brown algae include the big ones we call kelps; we'll cover them
next outing.
Red algae are the most numerous-their pigments allow them to absorb
light in deeper water and they become more abundant below the tide line.
They often have complex reproduction with confusing stages that look nothing
alike. Some of them are rubbery while others are calcified into rocky
crusts or stony leafs that are difficult for animals to graze completely.
Flowering plants like the sea grasses are not algae-they are land plants
that have evolved their way back into the ocean. Eelgrass in particular
can be abundant enough to form its own bottom/habitat type that a host
of other algae and critters use.
Algae have long been used for food, though not so much by Europeans or
their North American descendants. Studies in Japan have proven many species
to be quite nutritious and since none seem to be poisonous in any serious
way (unlike mushrooms) there is plenty of room for experimentation (but
get a guide and learn Desmarestia, a brown algae with a yen for
sulfuric acid that you likely won't share).
So on your next paddle, think vegetarian. Think marine. Think algae.
This issue is about cooking and camping after all, so I'll include some
tasty tidbits and review a gourmet seaweed cookbook. When you're on the
water next, have a look for the seaweeds on the checklist below
© Bryan Nichols (brynichols@wildmail.com)
avoided marine botany in his rowdy college days, but age and microbreweries
have turned him into more of a vegetable. Lover
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FURTHER READING
You've likely wondered if you could eat any of the bewildering
varieties of seaweed that adorn our coasts. Is it healthy? Is
it tasty? How do you gather it? How would you prepare it? Eating
seaweed is nothing new to much of the world, but us North Americans
are oddly reluctant, a stigma in part due to the Western European
influence.
As owners of the small, well respected Mendocino Sea Vegetable
Company, Eleanor and John Lewallen have been gathering and preparing
seaweeds professionally for over 15 years. As writers, teachers
and environmental advocates, their impact on North America's use
of seaweeds is hard to match. Their "Sea Vegetable Gourmet
Cookbook" will answer most of your questions and introduce
you to a surprisingly versatile food source.
THE GOOD STUFF
First and foremost are the recipes. Who could resist marinated
sea palm with roasted red peppers, or the salty bite of a DLT
(dulse, lettuce & tomato sandwich)? There is a wide variety
of interesting recipes and considerable encouragement and advice
about experimenting with ideas of your own.
Of course recipes aren't much help without instructions on how
to gather and prepare the ingredients, and the book is very helpful
here. There are sections on all the most popular seaweeds with
information on how to identify, find, gather and dry them. Welcome
tips on how to sustainably harvest various species are also provided,
not surprising considering the occupation of the authors.
A sense of environmental responsibility pervades this book -
you get the feeling there is more to seaweeds than just another
vegetarian food source. The authors rightly recognize that seaweeds
are only as healthy as the ocean they grow in, and are passionate
and effective advocates for keeping the coast pollution free.
NITTY GRITTY
The book is page sized (22x28cm), soft cover with b&w illustrations
and artwork. Besides recipes it includes sections on bathing &
healing with seaweeds, collection and preparation and a series
of essays on the healing power of seaweeds and family life as
wildcrafters. There is a bibliography with helpful notes, a nutritional
chart and a useful index.
IF I WERE EDITOR
Well, I'm not exactly the New Age touchy feely type so many of
the lifestyle essays had limited appeal. I'd prefer to see the
space used for more detailed illustrations and information on
identifying and harvesting each species. Not everyone shares my
cold, biological heart of course and topics relating to raising
children and body image might appeal more to you.
As someone who loathes the pecks, tables, quarts, teas and bushels
of the imperial system, I'd include metric measurements in all
the recipes to appeal to a more international and/or younger audience.
Finally I would also shrink the format - it would be more useful
in the field if it were more compact; more pages could easily
make up for the smaller size.
TAKE IT HOME?
If you are at all curious about eating seaweeds you should seriously
consider this book, as dabbling with the recipes will be great,
healthy fun. If you have organic, spiritual tendencies when it
comes to food, then you should definitely track it down.
GORY DETAILS
Sea Vegetable Gourmet Cookbook & Wildcrafter's Guide
Eleanor & John Lewallen,
Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company, 1996 128p, $19.95 US ISBN 0-9647643-7-7,
www.seaweed.net
.
(See Books at www.WaveLengthMagazine.com
for full details and reviews)
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CHECKLIST #23 - A Seaful of Seaweeds
EELGRASS
Zostera marina (marine aquatic plant)
Eel grass is grass-not algae-but unlike most grasses it can grow
in salt water. At low tide and below, eelgrass grows with rhizomes
and can completely cover the bottom, acting as a stabilizer and
becoming a productive home for lots of other critters. Cruise
slowly over eelgrass beds on calm days and you'll spot all sorts
of life.
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SURFGRASS
Phyllospadix sp. (leaf spike flower)
Surfgrass blades are much narrower (3mm) than eelgrass; they
grow on exposed, rocky shores. Most of us have seen it turning
tidepools into miniature meadows. Poking and prodding gently through
the greenery will turn up a menagerie of invertebrates and small
fish.
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GREEN STRING LETTUCE
Enteromorpha sp (intestine like)
There are about seven species and at least as many common names
of this green "confetti" or "sea hair" algae.
It is common at fresh water seeps-so common it's an easy way to
identify potential drinking water sites as you cruise the shoreline.
When Enteromorpha species dry out they turn white.
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SEA LETTUCE
Ulva sp. (marsh plant)
These bright green blades are aptly named- they often form a
vibrant line of salad along the shore. They are just a couple
cells thick and yes-you can eat them, though if you've got a decent
Ulva Caesar salad recipe I'd love to hear it.
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SEA MOSS
Endocladia muricata (branched inside)
Also called nail brush seaweed, this common algae grows higher
in the tide zone than most reds. It does look a lot like dark
moss covering intertidal rocks.
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RAINBOW LEAF
Mazzaella sp. (Mazza's)
Scientific names aren't etched in stone and this is
a tragic example of a lovely descriptive one (the
genus used to be Iridea) turning lousy (now it's
named after some Italian guy). These beautiful, iridescent
red algae are often just under your boat as you cruise
over shallow rocks. Their smooth blades catch the light and shimmer
back a rainbow of colors-the young "sprouts" that first
grow on rocks are particularly vibrant. If there's no wood for
a campfire, you can always sit and stare vacantly into the iridescent
algae (especially towards the end of long trips).
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LAVER.
Porphyra sp. (purple)
Though responsible for a billion dollar aquaculture industry,
species in this genus and one or two others are next to impossible
to tell apart on the beach. Called "nori" in Japan and
familiar to many of us North Americans wrapped around sushi rolls,
this stuff is remarkably nutritious and makes for good eating,
dried or stewed.
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RED RIBBON
Palmaria sp. (palm)
The deep, thick red blades of the different species of Palmaria
are called 'dulse' by seaweed eaters and are harvested regularly
in the Atlantic. Here the male plants are found low in the intertidal
zone-the females are so tiny you'll never spot one without a big
magnifying glass.
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ENCRUSTING CORALLINE ALGAE
Lithothamnion & Pseudolithophyllum
(rock like)
Encrustine coralline algae species are amazing- they turn tidepools
into purple wonderlands, pink paradises, lavender Edens. It's
all very San Francisco and if you take the time to peer into these
shallow environments, you'll start to appreciate this red algae,
which encrusts rocks, other plants and even slow moving animals.
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BRANCHING CORALLINE ALGAE
Corallina, Calliarthron, Bossiella
These red algae calcify themselves like
the crusts but use flexible joints to withstand
pounding surf. Forms can be leafy
or sticklike and were originally mistaken
for animals (corals). They somehow colorize entire shallow
ecosystems, resulting in pink fish, purple chitons and other
assaults on the drab world of green algae and brown kelp.
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TURKISH WASHCLOTH OR TARSPOT
Mastocarpus sp. (whip body)
These species have accumulated a pile of names over the years
including three complete scientific names. Dedicated seaweedologists
finally(?) realized two forms that look nothing alike were just
stages of the same species (as punishment for figuring this out
so late, seaweedologists were renamed phycologists). It's a common
group so you've likely seen both forms-the encrusting stage gets
old (90 plus years) and looks remarkably like a spot of tar on
the rocks. The blade stage is covered in little bumps and along
with a relative (Chondracanthus or Turkish towel) is popular among
the growing fringe of sensual seaweed bathers.
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DEAD MAN'S FINGERS
Halosaccion glandiforme
Also called sea sacs (which they resemble to
people that don't watch enough horror movies),
these red algae are easy to spot at the beach.
They fill with water while immersed to help get
them through low tides.
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See a complete listing of all of Bryan's
Checklists and articles
© Text: Bryan Nichols.
© Images: Bryan Nichols, Russ Norberg.
(Russ Norberg's photos are from Louis Druhel's 'Pacific Seaweeds',
courtesy Harbour Publishing, www.HarbourPublishing.com).
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