Seaweeds

The seaweeds must be, without doubt, the most wasted of our natural resources. In the past a few species have been eaten but generally speaking the habit has died out, although laver in Wales and carragheen in Ireland are still consumed in some quantity. Perhaps the reason why the edible seaweeds have disappeared from our tables is because the standard ways of cooking them emerged out of necessity and poverty, rather than from choice and taste. Seaweeds are among the most nutritious plants that can be found, as they contain high proportions of vitamins, proteins and minerals. Vitamins A, B1, B12, C and D are contained in large quantities in many types of seaweed. Sea lettuce, for instance, has more of the ‘growth vitamin’, vitamin A, than butter and many of the green seaweeds contain a higher concentration of vitamin B12 than can be found in liver. In addition to vitamins all species of seaweed are rich in minerals and trace elements because sea water has almost exactly the same proportion of minerals as human blood.