When in Cape Town this February staying with her family, OmVed Garden's Assistant Head of the Kitchen Georgia Dowling booked a seaweed foraging experience. Here she writes about her experience.
Imagine the Cape morning cloudless, blue, hot sun already in the high 20’s even though it’s before 9am. Big waves to one side as I look to the white sandy beach during low tide and in the distance see exposed rocks, from my waiting spot at the edge of the car park.
There is a group of around 20 people all waiting with me to start this foraging adventure. All of us with our hats and snacks ready to go. When the veld and sea team arrive we are given reusable water proof foraging bags to put our seaweed in, included in the bag a laminated picture card of the types of seaweed we will identify and forage. Below are five of the types we will forage.
Sea lettuce (Edible raw and tasty)
Deadman's fingers (the aloe vera of the sea)
Fresh Nori (The most well known but in its wet form)
Tongue weed (Thick and bobbly looks a bit like a cats tongue)
Slippery orbit (Thicker kelp)
First we discuss some important information about how to identify red tides, also known as harmful algae blooms. Then why it is best to forage after a spring tide and understanding the connection between the phases of the moon, spring tides and coastal foraging.
Shortly after, we all descend down a winding, windy path onto the beach and make our way on the sand to the exposed rocks. Here we stop and Led by Roushanna Grey founder of veld and sea, with a backdrop of the ocean we sit and talk about seaweed. In this coastal area there are over 800 types and only one isn’t edible (Acid weed or devil’s tongue). We are shown examples of the types of seaweed to forage, some the same as the ones identified above. Then how we should Identify them and how to harvest them safely and sustainably.
Interestingly each one of them has a very different texture, taste and a slightly different nutritional compilation. Some are stretchy, some have a slimy filling, some with little hard bobbles are extremely thick, all of them are fun shapes. We talk about how adding seaweed to a soup, stew or both can enhance the nutritional value of that dish.
We learn that to harvest seaweed it must be low tide but be in a place that would be covered in water during high tide. That seaweed you snip must be joined at the root and not floating freely both of these are to insure freshness and to make sure the seaweed is good to eat and won’t make you sick.
We are instructed to only take a ⅓ of the seaweed plant and to leave the roots attached; this will help the seaweed to regenerate. We should also be mindful of other sea life underfoot.
Next we are set loose on the rocks, sent to forage with a buddy to check the waves behind us as they splash forcefully against the rocks, apparently not every forager in the past has paid attention to the enormous ocean behind them. There are plenty of informed helpers to ask when not sure during the foraging session. We spend around an hour just scouring the rocks for edible delights.
The seaweed rich meal after foraging:
After foraging we head back to the veld and sea HQ which is a homemade glass house and it gave me the feeling of being in a Capetonian version of our OmVed Gardens venue. We washed our seaweed at an outdoor washing station, enjoyed a welcome snack and medicinal tea, then a demo of cooking on open flames, an interactive sushi ball making and seaweed noodle cutting moment, a make your own botanical cocktail bar and a big sharing lunch of seaweed rich foraged salads. We spoke of our connection to nature and washed it all down with wine from the Cape and an ice cream on a stick (homemade). I felt so at home and relaxed.
Seaweed tips and facts:
There are over 20,000 varieties of seaweed worldwide and around half are edible.
Before you go foraging first check out licensing and legalities (we had to fill out an online government license) and I bet there are different rules and regulations for different coastlines.
The best way to store seaweed for long lengths of time is to dry it out.
Many edible seaweeds will help to add an umami flavour to dishes, and are especially good in broths.
Not all edible seaweed has to be cooked to be eaten, this very much depends on the texture and thickness of the seaweed.
Sea lettuce is abundant and can be eaten as is.
Seaweed can teach us a lot about our coastlines.
If you are in the UK and are inspired to give seaweed foraging a go, there are many websites that offer seaweed foraging experiences along the British coastline. A couple examples are Fat Hen-Cornwall and Rewilding Us-Worthing
Take away from the experience:
There was so much to this day that I feel I cannot encapsulate it in one blog post, my friend who joined me said it was a once in a lifetime experience. I agree but hope I have plenty more just like it to learn and enjoy all edible landscapes. Seeing seaweed as a sustainable foraging food source and part of our future with food is exciting and being able to identify and use even 5 types is a welcome resource.