Seaweeds, Kelp on left, Wakame below left and Porphyra and Iridaea cordata below.  All edible.   Mineral content is outstanding, best reason to add this wild food to your diet.  Shop at an Oriental market to discover taste, ask how the proprietor uses the algae. 

Iodine from brown algae is used in Japan for treating hypertension, Macrocystis pyrifera containing minerals including iodine maybe antiviral and immune system stimulating.

(More Medicinal and Native American uses)

(To Edible Wild Plants of the seashore)

Chinese uses.

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite place for seaweed is in a bowl of  Miso soup.

Bull Kelp, Vancouver Island in water too polluted to harvest.  As of this writing
(March, 2001) Victoria, British Columbia a thriving tourist Mecca on
Vancouver Island still dumps its raw untreated sewage directly into the ocean. 

Pelvetiopsis limitata or Fucus, I'm not certain.  But if I had to bet it is Fucus.  Both are edible, found clinging high in the tide zone.  Best eaten fresh, use scissors or knife to harvest.  Do not harm hold fast foot, attaching it to rocks and other substrata.  Premier sea vegetable.  Eat raw (if water is clean) or cook in soup and stir fry.  It's tender in a hurry, don't overcook.  High in essential fats, polysaccharides, vitamins and minerals.  A super food.  ts of it, click and go see how to use it.   Try and find an old copy of Sea Vegetables by McConnaughey, Naturegraph Press.  Numerous sea vegetable recipe.

 

If at a loss on how to prepare sea vegetables, treat them like bok choy:  use your Oriental recipes for soup, stir fry and noodle dishes...Plop the seaweed in and enjoy.  Try it sauteed.  Chop it into eggs.  Excellent with rice dishes, especially curried rice, boiled in chicken stock.