Yum! I would love to try sea spaghetti. I have used kelp as lasagne sheets there is a definite pasta type quality to the texture I can imagine the sea spaghetti to be a very good sub… It’s interesting seaweed fell out of favour as a food source, I wonder if the timeframe coincides at all with the commercialisation of seaweed products in Scotland…
I don’t know if it might be significant or not, it just dawned on me that many of the folks who lived on the coast for whom eating seaweed might have been normal, might well have found employment either regular or ad hoc harvesting for industry which could reasonably have made harvesting edible seaweeds for food less appealing or just less of a priority perhaps…?
...or if seaweed was being harvested for industry, maybe landlords saw taking some for your own consumption as theft and didn't allow it? The Clearances saw a lot of people removed from the land, so maybe also there just weren't so many people around who would eat it?
Definitely seems plausible that landlords may not have distinguished between different types of seaweed too and therefore treated any/all seaweed gathering for personal use as theft. I suspect from a cultural perspective, especially after the clearances, it wouldn’t necessarily take long at all for the knowledge that backed up seaweed gathering/eating to disappear from communities…?
Oh to live by the sea again and to try more edible sea weeds! Thus far I've confined myself to dulse and carrageen moss from the Irish coast. The sea spaghetti is tantalising. Thanks for another lovely post.
Back when I lived in Santa Barbara CA, we used to swim out to the kelp forests, with a knife, and cut a few young 'leaves' of the giant kelp. Those leaves are big, so one just needs a few. A good rinse in fresh water, and they were ready to cut up to use for lasagna instead of pasta. Very yummy, and nutritious. Taste and texture a lot like whole wheat spinach lasagna. If people didn't know, they never guessed. Also best to use fresh. The spaghetti seed weed sounds a bit easier to collect. Wish we had it around here. :) Thanks for the story!
I remember you mentioning seaweed lasagna before - it's definitely something I want to try. I don't have giant kelp here but I'm sure I could find something similar as there are other kelps around.
I’m sure you could! The young kelp leaves (I don’t remember the right word, maybe blades?) that we used were as thick or a little thicker than a cooked lasagna noodle, and kind of crinkled or ridged. They got flatter and thinner as they matured. But even a thinner leaf would probably work, if you layered a few of them together.
The sea life always fascinates me, anything in or under the water really. I'd love to experience a seaweed harvest someday, perhaps getting me a wee bit closer to my Scottish roots ♥
love the sea hare, so cute. Happy Easter, and stay safe in the wind, we've got high wind warnings to but not as bad as yours, just been round the garden securing stuff. Sea spaghetti sounds tasty probably better than my normal GF spaghetti xx
Happy Easter weekend Cat, and thank you for this engaging and information-filled read 😊 I love the “hook” about the BBC “spaghetti tree” story at the start too - fantastic and hilarious 👌🏼
Sea spaghetti! Sea hares! Sandy moths! What a beautiful thing to think about.
I enjoyed this. I will have a hunt for some along the shore
Have fun! You'll need a decent low tide; it generally grows quite far down the shore.
Good to know, thanks
Yum! I would love to try sea spaghetti. I have used kelp as lasagne sheets there is a definite pasta type quality to the texture I can imagine the sea spaghetti to be a very good sub… It’s interesting seaweed fell out of favour as a food source, I wonder if the timeframe coincides at all with the commercialisation of seaweed products in Scotland…
That's an interesting thought, I'll need to do a bit more research...
I don’t know if it might be significant or not, it just dawned on me that many of the folks who lived on the coast for whom eating seaweed might have been normal, might well have found employment either regular or ad hoc harvesting for industry which could reasonably have made harvesting edible seaweeds for food less appealing or just less of a priority perhaps…?
...or if seaweed was being harvested for industry, maybe landlords saw taking some for your own consumption as theft and didn't allow it? The Clearances saw a lot of people removed from the land, so maybe also there just weren't so many people around who would eat it?
Definitely seems plausible that landlords may not have distinguished between different types of seaweed too and therefore treated any/all seaweed gathering for personal use as theft. I suspect from a cultural perspective, especially after the clearances, it wouldn’t necessarily take long at all for the knowledge that backed up seaweed gathering/eating to disappear from communities…?
Oh to live by the sea again and to try more edible sea weeds! Thus far I've confined myself to dulse and carrageen moss from the Irish coast. The sea spaghetti is tantalising. Thanks for another lovely post.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Back when I lived in Santa Barbara CA, we used to swim out to the kelp forests, with a knife, and cut a few young 'leaves' of the giant kelp. Those leaves are big, so one just needs a few. A good rinse in fresh water, and they were ready to cut up to use for lasagna instead of pasta. Very yummy, and nutritious. Taste and texture a lot like whole wheat spinach lasagna. If people didn't know, they never guessed. Also best to use fresh. The spaghetti seed weed sounds a bit easier to collect. Wish we had it around here. :) Thanks for the story!
I remember you mentioning seaweed lasagna before - it's definitely something I want to try. I don't have giant kelp here but I'm sure I could find something similar as there are other kelps around.
I’m sure you could! The young kelp leaves (I don’t remember the right word, maybe blades?) that we used were as thick or a little thicker than a cooked lasagna noodle, and kind of crinkled or ridged. They got flatter and thinner as they matured. But even a thinner leaf would probably work, if you layered a few of them together.
Amazing post, Cat! I've never heard of this wonder of the sea, the ocean never ceases to fascinate me. Thank you so much for sharing this!
There are just so many things in the sea - and so many more that we don't even know about yet...
Great post - aye appreciate some seaweed knowledge. I like to try and dry it and weave with it
Oh I haven't tried that - another thing to add to my ever-increasing list!
The sea life always fascinates me, anything in or under the water really. I'd love to experience a seaweed harvest someday, perhaps getting me a wee bit closer to my Scottish roots ♥
You're welcome to visit for a bit of seaweed-harvesting any time! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this bit of island life, it was interesting to learn about the sea spaghetti and the sea slugs. ♥️
Thanks for reading! I love sea hares, they're quite cute in a strange sluggy sort of way...
love the sea hare, so cute. Happy Easter, and stay safe in the wind, we've got high wind warnings to but not as bad as yours, just been round the garden securing stuff. Sea spaghetti sounds tasty probably better than my normal GF spaghetti xx
I love sea hares! Sea Spaghetti is really tasty, you'll have to try it when you're over some time x
Happy Easter weekend Cat, and thank you for this engaging and information-filled read 😊 I love the “hook” about the BBC “spaghetti tree” story at the start too - fantastic and hilarious 👌🏼
Happy Easter to you too! Thanks for reading; I'm glad you enjoyed it 🙂