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Seaweeds Used as Articles of Diet

Amongst seaweeds which have been used as articles of diet none is better known than the Chrondrus crispus, which, under the name of carrageen moss, Irish moss, and pearl moss, has been long eaten in Europe. It is recommended as a medicine, but it has no bitter principle, and probably is less tonic than the lichen. Seaweeds have occasionally been resorted to by the poorer inhabitants of the seashores of Europe, more especially in Ireland, when the ordinary corn or potato crop has failed. They, however, contain but little nutriment, and anyone living on nothing else would soon starve. Laver-weed is a peculiar kind of seaweed. Gosse, in his handbook to South Wales, describes it as one of the edible curiosities of the Gower Coast. Women attend the Swansea market, and sell it in small round pats at 1d. and 2d. each. The weed makes an excellent ingredient in sauce for mutton. It is obtained close to low-water mark. To prepare it, wash it well in sea-water to free it from sand, then boil it for twelve hours, and season with salt. In winter it is only necessary to boil it for two hours. The weed grows rapidly, except in winter, and is renewed every other springtide. It is also used in some parts of Scotland on the coast, where it is called sloke or slokum.