How to Prepare and Cook Seaweed

Most people don't know that seaweed is used in cooking and is mineral-rich. Laver, sea lettuce and kelp can be boiled so you can eat the leaves. Carrageen seaweed can be eaten uncooked, dried out, or as a gelatin mixture. Here are a few ways to use seaweed in your diet.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 oz. Carrageen seaweed
  • 2 cups Water or milk
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Instructions

  1. Carrageen gelatin

    • 1

      Collect the purple Carrageen seaweed on lower-shore rocks, usually during the spring or summer. Use a knife to cut the weeds loose.

    • 2

      Dry the seaweed to prepare it for cooking. Spread it out in the sun, on a rock, until the strands get pale and leathery.

    • 3

      Rinse the seaweed thoroughly with water. Slice it into little pieces.

    • 4

      Soak the prepared seaweed in water and watch it swell. Then put it into the liquid you want to form a gelatin from, usually milk or water. You can thicken soaps with the seaweed as well. Use 1 oz. of dried seaweed for each cup of liquid.

    • 5

      Cook the water or milk with the prepared seaweed in a pot over a fire for 10 minutes, or until the mixture thickens.

    • 6

      Separate the seaweed pieces from the cooked gelatin and throw them away. You can sweeten the gelatin with berries or sugar.

    • 7

      Wait until the mixture is entirely cold to prevent burns. Grab a spoon and dive in.

    Other seaweed recipes

    • 8

      Cook 1 square inch of kelp with your next rice or bean dish.

    • 9

      Put a 2 inch strip of wakame into any soup.

    • 10

      Boil kelp, dulse, or Irish moss in a medium pot of water for 30 minutes to make a soup base. Add your preference of seasonings or allow it to cool as a gelatin.

    • 11

      Dry dulse and clip into tiny pieces to use as a seasoning for anything from meats to soups.