A slight diversion...

Hello, friends,

Tonight I wanted to take a slight change of course before continuing on with Porphyra abbottiae. Just so that it wouldn't seem that the only interesting things about edible seaweeds are their edibility or their ethnoecology (or their ability to translate well into knitting), you'll be in for a little treat--if you like poetry. In fact, people have been praising (or despising) seaweeds in writings and songs for a very long time. There's hundreds of examples of edible seaweeds in art and history, if you only know where to look! Being from the Maritimes, I'd like to share some of the research I've recently done on a local product: dulse.

Dulse, that delicacy for some in the Maritimes, is also found in most of the North Atlantic. The scientific name is Palmaria palmata. One of the earliest references to this seaweed is as søl in a 10th-century Icelandic saga! This saga focuses on a man known as Egil Skalla-Grimsson whose son, Bodvar, died in a boating accident (Eddison, 1968). Egil tried to starve himself to death out of sorrow, but his daughter, Thorgerd, had a plan. She tricked Egil into eating søl by telling him that she too would fast and die with her father. The søl would remind them that they were alive longer than they should be (possibly because it came from the sea, where Bodvar died?). As those of us who have tried dulse know, it can be very salty. Thorgerd also knew the dulse would make Egil thirsty and want to take a drink. Egil expected to be given a cup of water. To him, this wouldn't count as breaking the fast. Instead, he was given milk (!). The death-fast was broken, and Egil was once again quite miserable after realizing the trickery. Thorgerd convinced her father to channel his renewed anguish into composing an epic funeral song in honour of Bodvar. Unfortunately, there is no more mention of the søl in the rest of the epic. But, the oldest law book of Iceland, the Grágás, contains regulations concerning the collection of søl (Madlener, 1977; Hallsson, 1961). Written in the 12th-century, the book affirmed the right to collect søl wherever they wished, and the right to eat it while it was still fresh on another man’s land. You couldn't be punished for wanting your dulse fresh--who can blame them?

As I promised earlier, there would be poetry! A poem recorded from a shepherd, Fearachar Beaton, in 1870 in the Scottish Hebrides also mentions dulse. The shepherd told the recorder that he was told the song by a ‘Cailleach bheag an f hasaich’, or ‘little old woman of the wild,’ when he was a young boy (Carmichael, 1928). The woman told the young Fearachar that she was an old woman when his great-great-grandfather was a boy, meaning that she was practically part of the land itself. I love this poem, and hope that you enjoy it too (the original Scottish Gaelic is followed by the English translation in blue]:

'Duair bha an f hairge mhor [What time the great sea]
'Na coille choinnich ghlais, [Was a grey mossy wood,]
Bha mis am mhuirneig oig, [I was a joyous little maiden,]
Bu bhiadh miamh maidne dhomh [My wholesome morning meal]
Duileasg Lioc a Eigir, [The dulse of the Rock of Agir]
Agus creamh an Sgōth, [And the wild garlic of 'Sgōth,']
Uisge Loch-a-Cheann-dubhain, [The water of 'Loch-a-Cheann-dubhain,']
Is iasg an Ionnaire-mhoir, [And the fish of 'Ionnaire-mor,']
B' iad siud mo ragha beatha-sa [Those would be my choice sustenance]
Am fad ’s a bhithinn beo. [As long as I would live.]
(Carmichael, 1928)

Actually, tonight may not be wholly free from P. abbottiae--I just found an interesting story that mentions edible seaweed and the Kwakwaka'wakw (formerly referred to as the Kwakiutl). It's not clear whether the algae is actually P. abbottiae or not, but it's very interesting all the same. The following is a quotation from Franz Boas' (remember Boas, 1921? This is the same man) Kwakiutl Tales, 1910:

Hâ'dahô was camping on the beach at the place Sea-Otter-Cove,--he who was the harpooneer of the chief of the ancestors of the Divided tribe. The steersman of Hâ'dahô was Unsurpassed; and in the middle of the canoe was sitting the prince of the chief, whose name was Moon-in-Sky. In the morning, when the harpooneer wakened his crew, it was very fine weather. Immediately they arose and carried their hunting-canoe down to the beach. Then they steered for Right-Distance. They were going to hunt sea-otters there.

They had not gone far out when it began to be foggy. They did not know where they had come from. However, many sea-otters were seen by them sleeping on the water, and also many laughing geese. As soon as the harpooneer tried to get close to the sea-otters, the geese would fly up and flap their wings over the sea-otters, thus driving them away. Therefore Hâ'dahô became angry. Then Hâ'dahô spoke, and said to the geese, "Oh, you little ones who eat any kind of food! probably your good food is the reason that you make so much mischief, you without ancestors, for you eat only seaweed and sand on the sea." Immediately the geese disappeared.

(you can read the full story here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/nw/kt/index.htm)


References

Carmichael, A. 1928. Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations Collected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the Last Century, Vol. 2. Oliver and Boyd: Tweeddale Court, Edinburgh. Pp. 281-283.
Eddison, E. R. 1968. Egil’s Saga. Greenwood Press: New York. Pp. 86-189.
Hallsson, S. V. 1961. The Uses of Seaweeds in Iceland. Fourth International Seaweed Symposium 1961 France. http://www.noamkelp.com/technical/iceland6.0.doc
Madlener, J. C. 1977. The Sea Vegetable Book. Clarkson N. Potter: New York.

Traditional Kwakwaka'wakw Practises Part 2

Hello guys, sorry for the delay. I ended up falling asleep last night before getting to update the blog! Here's part 2 of traditional practises: preparing the seaweed for consumption! I will mention beforehand that the word 'laver' is often used as a common name for different species of Porphyra, so I'll be using it throughout this post.

Porphyra abbottiae could be prepared a variety of ways depending on the Nation, the community, or the individual. For example, Chief Adam Dick of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation has said that he never used cedar racks to dry the laver. Instead, he would spread it out on rocks to dry if it was a sunny day. In contrast, Boas (1921) wrote that the Kwakwaka’wakw used cedar racks to dry the seaweed. With the advent of electric stoves, the sun wasn't necessary anymore to dry the the seaweed (Williams, 1979)(this was very handy for times when the sun wouldn't appear for several days at a time--if you already picked you seaweed, it could go bad if you didn't dry it after a few days!). Women used to be the ones who would harvest and prepare laver, but now both men and women take part in this activity. Boas (1921) wrote that for the Kwakwaka’wakw there is an ‘experienced’ and ‘inexperienced’ way to prepare laver, and Turner (2003) also mentions a similar case for the Haida. The inexperienced harvester would empty the canoe and let the laver immediately dry under the sun. This made the seaweed very tough and relatively harder to eat than seaweed prepared by an experienced harvester. The experienced harvester would cover the pile of laver with a woven mat mat (today some people use canvas tarps). Even if the weather was good, they would let the algae start to rot (or ferment) for a few days, usually around four days. This fermenting stage stops laver from becoming tough, and is thus why experienced harvesters used it. (As an aside, I think this can be compared to how salted, dried fish that is dried indoors in a drying room is a lot harder and tougher to chew than fish that is slowly dried outside under rain and sun for many weeks).
After the fermentation period the mat could be taken off and the laver was spread out to dry on a cedar drying rack outside on a sunny day (Boas, 1921). The harvester would turn the laver over on its other side around midday to make sure it was drying properly. When it was completely dry, the laver was rolled up in a woven mat and stored in a dry, indoors location. Keeping the laver dry after it has already been dried is very important! Sophie Misheal of the Songhees Reserve said, “once it’s dry it can’t get wet again because it turns red and smells bad” (Williams, 1979). Later that night chitons (small marine molluscs, see the picture to the right!) were caught, cooked, and chewed (you'll see in a moment why this was important). A cedar bentwood box was lined with cedar branches, salal leaves (Gaultheria shallon), or skunk-cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) (Turner, pers. comm.; Curtis, 1915). The seaweed was placed in the lid of the box and then the harvester spat the juice of the chitons onto the laver (Turner, 2003; Boas, 1921)(also see picture of the bentwood box to the lower-left--it is a Haida box, not Kwakwaka'wakw, found at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa). I've tried both plain oven-dried laver and laver prepared using chiton juice, and I can attest that there is a subtle difference in flavour (but both were very tasty!). The wet laver was packed in the box between layers of cedar branches, salal leaves, or skunk cabbage leaves until there was no room left. The box was tightly sealed up with ropes and rocks, and left to dry. A month later when the seaweed would stick together the harvester took it out of the box and left out to dry under the sun, and then returned it to the box at night (Boas, 1921). This was repeated about four times to make sure it was completely dry, and then the laver was packed away in the box without the cedar branches. According to Curtis (1915), these compressed cakes of laver resembled prune-coloured plugs of tobacco.
Alternatively, the laver could be dried indoors on a cedar rack near the fire following the fermentation (Boas, 1921). The seaweed would be browned on one side, and turned over so the laver would be uniformly browned. When the laver was dry it could be bundled up into deer-skin and beaten until it became a powder. The powder was placed into a bentwood cedar box, and stored in a dry location.

References

Boas, F. 1921. Ethnology of the Kwakiutl: based on data collected by George Hunt. Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C.
Curtis, E. S. 1915. The North American Indian, Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States, the Dominion of Canada, and Alaska. Johnson Reprint Corporation: New York.
Turner, N. J. 2003. The Ethnobotany of Edible Seaweed (Porphyra abbottae and Related Species; Rhodophyta: Bangiales) and its Use by First Nations on the Pacific Coast of Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany, 81: 283-293.
Williams, M. D. 1979. The harvesting of “sluckus” (Porphyra perforata) by the Straits Salish Indians of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Syesis, 12: 63-69.

Sorry guys! It's been a little hectic here lately, but I'll be updating later on tonight :)
For now, take a gander at these photos of sushi; not only is it tasty, but the blackish-wrapping is seaweed (colloquially known as nori). In fact, nori is actually made various species of Porphyra, and is hence related to the Porphyra abbottiae of this blog! Enjoy! [note: the sushi in the last photo is not meant to be eaten. It isn't very often that you see knitted seaweed, so it seemed right to include it.]

Traditional Porphyra practises (Part 1)

Welcome back! As mentioned yesterday, there were many First Nations that harvested Porphyra. The Hanaksiala, Haisla, Kitasoo, Oweekeno, Tsimshian, Pomo, Kashaya, Tolowa, Yurok, Hesquiat, Nuxalk, and the Kwakwaka’wakw are among the many who are known to have used it (Moerman, 1998). The presence of Porphyra nearby did not guarantee that it would be eaten; some coastal Nations, such as the Ditidaht and the Makah, did not historically harvest or eat Porphyra (Turner, 2003). The number of harvests in a season could vary between Nations, with some like the Gitga’at and the Saanich (Straits Salish) harvesting Porphyra twice over the course of a year (Turner, 2003; Williams, 1979).

Porphyra abbottiae is the most commonly eaten species of the local Porphyra and may be considered by many to have the best-tasting flavour (Turner, 2003). Identification is very important, as there are other seaweeds that occupy the same ecological zone in the intertidal or are look very similar to P. abbottiae. These other seaweeds are different in texture and flavour, possibly even indigestible. Once of these seaweeds is one that Helen Clifton of the Gitga’at described as ‘seal seaweed’, which may be a species of algae in the genus Iridaea (Turner, 2003). This seaweed can grow where P. abbottiae is found and should not be picked.

Knowing when to pick the seaweed is not guesswork.The conditions for harvesting seaweed must be ideal. If conditions are not good, the harvester risks having his or her seaweed spoil, or risks their own life in unsafe conditions. Harvesting usually takes place in the month of May (Turner, 2003; Turner, 1975), when the Porphyra fronds are young and short (usually up to about 30 cm). Further north up the British Columbia coastline, some species of Porphyra are harvested from early spring up to July (Turner, 2003). The water should be at the low-tide line, and the Tlingit & the Gitga'at specify that to start in the morning will be the best for drying the seaweed (Garibaldi and Turner, 2004; Curtis, 1915). The Gitga’at and the Kwakwaka’wakw say that seaweed should never be picked when it is raining. It is also forbidden to harvest laver that is below the water-line or is floating in the water (it is said that it will start to rain if you do so; Garibaldi and Turner, 2004). Garibaldi and Turner (2004) call these a temporal taboo and habitat taboo, respectively. The first taboo applies only to the time when it is raining (when harvesting is restricted only to the exposed, intertidal habitat) while with the second taboo (the habitat taboo) harvesting is restricted only to the exposed, intertidal habitat. These are very practical taboos, because harvesting on slippery rocks when it is raining greatly increases the risk of injury or possibly death by drowning. A taboo passed down to each generation helps protect the new, inexperienced harvesters from accidents not witnessed in the community’s collective living memory, but that had occurred perhaps centuries earlier.

Depending on the timing of the tides, some of the Porphyra will dry directly onto the rocks where it is growing. If the seaweed has dried on the rocks where it is growing, the harvester would peel it off. If the laver is still wet, the harvester would pluck it off the rock (Boas, 1921). The seaweed has to be dried soon after it is picked or it will rot. By picking Porphyra that was already dry, the job of making it ready to eat was a bit easier. Seaweed that was already dry was less likely to go bad should bad weather suddenly arrived for several days (but it is important to keep that seaweed dry! But, with everything there are a few small exceptions. We'll look at one technique that involves fermenting Porphyra before drying it). In the past, harvesters used big cedar baskets to carry the seaweed. When the basket was full it was emptied into the canoe (Boas, 1921). The harvester returned home when the canoe was full or the weather turned to rain.

References

Boas, F. 1921. Ethnology of the Kwakiutl: based on data collected by George Hunt. Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C.
Garibaldi, A. and Turner, N. 2004, Cultural Keystone Species: Implications for Ecological Conservation and Restoration. Ecology and Society, 9: 1 [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss3/art1
Moerman, D. E. 1998. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press: Portland, Oregon. Pp. 433.
Turner, N. J. 1975. Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples. Royal British Columbia Museum. UBC Press: Vancouver. Pp. 21-22.
Turner, N. J. 2003. The Ethnobotany of Edible Seaweed (Porphyra abbottae and Related Species; Rhodophyta: Bangiales) and its Use by First Nations on the Pacific Coast of Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany, 81: 283-293.
Williams, M. D. 1979. The harvesting of “sluckus” (Porphyra perforata) by the Straits Salish Indians of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Syesis, 12: 63-69.

Porphyra abbottiae

Welcome! My first species of interest on this blog is the red alga Porphyra abbottiae (Krishnamurthy). A common name for P. abbottiae is red laver (e.g. Garibaldi and Turner, 2004; Turner, 1975). This seaweed was at one point called Porphyra perforata (Turner, 1975). Since then it has been alternately (but incorrectly) spelled P. abbottae (N. J. Turner, pers. comm.). It resembles a flat, reddish-purple or greenish blade (see image in this post [Mandy Lindeberg, 1996]), and may reach lengths of 150 cm or longer (Turner, 1975). Along with humans, some marine animals such as limpets, chitons, and snails also eat this seaweed (Turner, 2003). This particular species will be the focus of my research over the next two years.

This seaweed is a member of the genus Porphyra. There are many species in this group of seaweeds, and many of these have been an important source of medicine and food throughout the world for thousands of years. Porphyra was part of a traditional coastal Southeast Asian, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese diet. It appears in soups, as flavouring for many dishes, and as the nori in sushi in Japan. It is a valuable food, and is grown in 'farms' to meet the demand. The value of the seaweed industry was $1.5 billion in Japan alone by 1998 (Zemke-White and Ohno, 1999). On the Pacific coast of North America, there may be 22 species of Porphyra (Druehl, 2000). Species harvested by First Nations along the Pacific coast included P. abbottiae, P. laciniata and P. lanceolata (Turner, 2002). Porphyra grows on hard surfaces such as rocks in the intertidal zone [this is the area between the highest and lowest tides!] (Druehl, 2000), though some species grow on other seaweeds or are found in the subtidal zone [this is the area below the lowest tide, so it's always covered by water] (McConnaughey, 1985).

Porphyra abbottiae is a typical Porphyra. It is epilithic (grows on rocks) or other hard, immovable surfaces such as shells (Turner, 2003; Williams, 1979). It mostly grows in the intertidal zone, and is reported to be found from the polar (Alaska) to the South Temperate zones of coastal Pacific waters (Turner, 2003; Madlener, 1977). The location of Porphyra species in the intertidal zone makes it possible for both marine and terrestrial animals to get to it. Early First Nations hunters and gatherers would have encountered laver while they collected coastal species such as clams, octopi, limpets, and snails, and so at some point laver too was harvested and integrated into the traditional diet (Turner, 2003). One important source of information is Boas (1921), who wrote up ethnographic information collected from the Kwakwaka’wakw by George Hunt. Another, less detailed source, also on Kwakwaka’wakw practises, is found in Curtis (1915). Tomorrow I will talk in greater detail about the traditional use of Porphyra by the Kwakwaka’wakw!

References:

Aaronson, S. 1986. A Role For Algae as Human Food in Antiquity. Food and Foodways 1: 311-315.
Boas, F. 1921. Ethnology of the Kwakiutl: based on data collected by George Hunt. Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C.
Curtis, E. S. 1915. The North American Indian, Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States, the Dominion of Canada, and Alaska. Johnson Reprint Corporation: New York.
Druehl, L. D. 2000. Pacific Seaweeds; A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast. Harbour Publishing: Madeira Park, British Columbia.
Madlener, J. C. 1977. The Sea Vegetable Book. Clarkson N. Potter: New York.
McConnaughey, E. 1985. Sea Vegetables; Harvesting Guide & Cookbook. Naturegraph Publishers: Happy Camp, California. Pp. 159-190.
Turner, N. J. 1975. Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples. Royal British Columbia Museum. UBC Press: Vancouver. Pp. 21-22.
Turner, N. J. 2003. The Ethnobotany of Edible Seaweed (Porphyra abbottae and Related Species; Rhodophyta: Bangiales) and its Use by First Nations on the Pacific Coast of Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany, 81: 283-293.
Zemke-White, W. L., and Ohno, M. 1999. World seaweed utilization: An end-of-century summary. Journal of Applied Phycology 11: 369-376.

First post!

The ice must always be broken at some point, and here it starts--this is a blog about edible seaweeds, sometimes referred to as 'sea vegetables'. To start, here is the definition of 'seaweed', courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary:

Seaweed (si:wi:d) [f. SEA n. + WEED n.]

1. collect. Any marine plants of the class Algæ (see ALGA).
1577 B. GOOGE Heresbach's Husb. II. (1586) 56b, Wrap it in seaweede. 1591 PERCIVALL Sp. Dict., Alga marina, reeks or sea weede, Alga. 1667 MILTON P.L. VII. 404 Part single or with mate Graze the Sea weed thir pasture. 1734 POPE Ess. Man iv. 292 Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows, From dirt and sea-weed as proud Venice rose. 1762 MILLS Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 91 A fresh manure of sea-weed being laid on each year that barley is sown.

2. A particular marine alga.
1894 H. DRUMMOND Ascent of Man 414 Whole classes in the plant world--the sea-weeds for instance have no roots at all.

3. attrib. and Comb., as seaweed belt, collector, -green n. and adj., limpet, poultice; seaweed-covered adj.; seaweed-fern, the hart's tongue, Scolopendrium vulgare; seaweed-marquetry (see quot. 1975).

Seaweed has had a long history of use in Europe for purposes such as fertilizer, poultices, animal fodder, and in human nutrition. More recently, seaweeds have entered the dictionary once again as a beauty product:

seaweed wrap n. a type of beauty treatment intended to revitalize the skin and relax the body, typically involving the application of a seaweed-based paste to the skin, and the wrapping of the body in heated sheets.
1985 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) 26 Aug. B5/2 In addition to the *seaweed wraps, there are treatments like the German Thalasso therapy. 2000My Canapé Hell (2001) xii. 301, I have..regular waxes, pedicures, manicures, body brushings, eyebrow pluckings, massages, seaweed wraps, de-toxes, Cellophane wraps..and I still insist..I just do yoga and drink plenty of water.

This blog will progressively look at the traditional uses and issues surrounding various seaweeds native to Canada. Tomorrow, we'll look in greater depth at my research project on Porphyra abbottiae, an algae found on the Pacific west coast of Canada and the United States.