I’ve been doing a lot of seaweed collecting this summer. I always end up running out and don’t often get to the coast in the winter. This is important to me for two reasons:
Firstly, I come from a family with a tendency to underactive thyroid. This is kept at bay by – yep you guessed it – seaweed! All of us (I’m one of five siblings) once we get into our forties, show the classic signs; plummeting energy levels, slow metabolism, weight gain, fatigue, dry skin, forgetfulness… but taking seaweed everyday sorts that out. I tend to go for a mix of seaweed I’ve collected for cooking and I use our Napiers Seagreens Organic Kelp Capsules when I run out. Obviously I’m biassed as I work at Napiers. However, the research that we did with the University of Glasgow was not biassed – it is clinically true that after 3 days just one capsule a day will correct iodine insufficiency and restore thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. It’s just a shame that the 60-70% of the British population who are iodine insufficient – basically suffering from malnutrition! – don’t know how easy it is to correct before its too late.
Secondly, it’s all about taste, taste, taste. Seaweed is the umami of the vegetable world.
How to dry seaweed
Harvest your seaweed where it is growing. Don’t just pick dead or dying seaweed off a beach. Collect it at low tide from the rocks where it grows. Cut it from the stipe (“root”) with a pair of scissors so that it can grow again. This way you’ll have the freshest seaweed possible.
Ideally you should process it on the same day as harvesting, but certainly no later than the next day if you want decent quality.
Rinse it. This is to remove any grit, snails, small crabs, etc. and for seaweeds used in savoury dishes can be done either in salt water or in fresh water.
Don’t soak it overnight unless you want a slimy, gelatinous crop by morning! Also seaweeds like dulse will give up their colour and you’ll be left with a pail of purple water. The best way is to plunge handfuls of seaweed into big pail of water, give them a good swirl around and take then straight out into a colander while you get on with the next batch.
For seaweeds that you’re planning to use in desserts, like carrageen, wash then thoroughly in fresh water.
Then hang up on a line or use a laundry dryer if it’s a sunny day. If it’s raining use a dehydrator on a low setting so that you don’t scorch all the nutrients out of it.
Once thoroughly dry you can store in sealed containers (any contact with the air will make it prone to absorbing moisture and shorten its shelf life) – either whole, or ground in a coffee grinder as a seasoning.
Hi,
How long does it take to dry?
It depends on the species, the size and the method of drying. Usually only a few hours.
Hello! I dried my kelp today on a dryer in the sun. Many of the ribbons bleached almost white before they were dry. Was the sun too hot? Has this destroyed the nutrient content? Thanks!
Barbara (I attended one of your foraging workshops 3 years ago)
It does sound like the sun has bleached it. No it won’t affect the nutrient value much. I’ve seen research comparing bleached carragheen to unbleached carragheen and there wasn’t a lot between them.
Thank you gor the information i live close to the ocean so are going togove this a try thankyou! Joan
Lovely! Thank you.
I’m using a dehydrator to dry dulse I’ve collected fresh – how long does it take do you think?
Hi, thank you for all the great info, I too have an under active thyroid so I am wanting to process my own. Once dried do I just bring it up and then how do I take it if I don’t have capsule shells?
Just add it to food as a seasoning.
Hi Monica,
Do you know what temperature & time length should be if I want to dry it in dehumidifier?
How long you have to dry it for depends on how wet it is to start with. I generally put it in a dehydrator to around 90-95C and take it out when it can snap easily. I’ve not tried putting it near a dehumidifier.
I’m heading to Nova Scotia where there’s lots of dulse. In the past I’ve dried it in the open air but I won’t have that luxury this time. I’m wondering if dulse can be kept in seawater for a week or so prior to drying. Thanks.
Once it is detached it will start to rot even if it is in seawater. So you will need to find a way to hang it out to dry.
Estimada Mónica me gustaría aclarar algo: la falta de yodo en la dieta no produce hipotiroidismo, lo que produce es bocio (es decir, la glándula tiroides se hipertrofia para compensar la falta de yodo y seguir produciendo hormona tiroidea: tirosina).
El hipotiroidismo se produce por destrucción de la glándula tiroides debido a un proceso autoinmune, el hipotiroidismo, desgraciadamente no se soluciona tomando yodo, es necesario tomar la hormona tirosina en pastillas.
Espero haberle aclarado estos conceptos que algunas veces se confunden.
Un saludo
Thank you Juan. In the UK, hypothyroidism is defined as occuring when the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones. Iodine is necessary to produce these hormones. When there is too little iodine to make the hormones the thyroid has to work harder which can also lead to goitre. Here the autoimmune condition associated with hypothyroidism is called Hashimoto’s disease. Once progressed to this stage, I agree that just adding iodine cannot resolve the problem. However, before the autoimmune condition sets in, hypothyroidism can be corrected by adding seaweed to the diet. I have witnessed this firsthand in both myself and in our clinic patients, confirmed by TSH readings in blood tests.
I have just washed some thong weed- the water was extremely brown- is that normal or is it a brown algae that is getting rubbed off- is that ok?
It just means you didn’t do it straightaway after picking perhaps.