Brighton seaweed / pollution

[firmgently]

Hi everybody,

I live in Brighton but don't mind a walk of up to say 10 miles (bearing in mind I'd have to walk back too, 20 miles is my limit in a day). I've been on a very low income for a while and my diet might sometimes not have enough variety. I do bake my own bread and have heard that seaweed is an excellent additive to bread as it imparts a salty (savoury?) flavour in a healthier way than table salt and has iron and lots of trace minerals.

I see all this seaweed whenever I go down to the sea but I seem to remember reading something about how this part of the south coast is too polluted for some kinds of foraging, something to do with how the jet stream curls around and we end up catching all the dirty bits. What I read may have been in relation to mussels which I believe accumulate heavy metals over time, something to do with filter-feeding? Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this as the memories are vague.

Brighton beach holds a Blue Flag award but I'm not sure if that has any real meaning or is manipulable, it's obviously good PR to have one. I know if I walk 3 or 4 miles along to Shoreham there is a power station and I see some unappetising yellowy foam floating around.

I'm not looking for absolutes here but I'd appreciate hearing from anybody who forages the local seaweed or has any information to add to what I've said above. If nobody can offer any advice maybe I'll just try using it regularly and log in every month or so to say I'm still alive (unless I'm not). Then I'd at least be a single data point.

Cheers!

[jamesintayside]

I have heard of seaweed being added to breads but not sure at all about its use where you are and of course there are different types of sea weed. -

Maybe some one else can help out - but meanwhile I will email a few mates and ask them.

20 miles - yikes.

[firmgently]

That's very kind of you - thanks very much. 20 miles is too much. I did it once and it hurt, I'm nowhere near fit enough. I walked like a cowboy the next day which was strange.

[jamesintayside]

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... or-seaweed

this might help

[firmgently]

I'd seen that article thanks, but it's quite good so worth having in the thread. They are obviously foraging seaweeds happily enough in Cornwall and Dorset but whatever it was I read about the pollution problem was specifically about South-East coast so I'd still be interested in any info more specific to my area...

[jamesintayside]

I wonder if your local council - maybe even thier web site would have any information you could check.
Perhaps the local environmental health - worth even a phone call

[Zech]

Personally, I take the blue flag as a good enough indication of clean water, but that's not a very well-researched judgement, so I'm not sure it really answers your question. I know water quality can vary over quite short distances, e.g. one beach in a town can have a blue flag and another one in the same town not. I think it depends on location of various waste outlets.

Do learn a bit about the different varieties as some are much better than others. Also - at risk of stating the bleeding obvious - cut pieces off the weeds that are still growing, don't just pick up the pieces that have broken free, as these will have started going off.

[firmgently]

Thanks James I've tried the council website a while back and not been able to find anything of use.

Rachel I've read a bit about different varieties and which are good for which purposes but I do plan on reading more. At the moment though I still haven't been able to find out if seaweed from my area is ok to eat generally. If I do find out it's ok I'll be sure to check the different varieties out more thoroughly. Good point about cutting growing parts rather than picking up broken pieces, although it does seem obvious now it might not have occurred to me. Cheers.

[Zech]

No, it didn't occur to me either, until someone pointed it out, and then it was obvious

[fredc]

I've eaten seaweed from time to time, kelk and we get a red dulse that's peppery.

I would avoid eating filter feeders in your part of the world but there are plenty of grazers you can eat. The common limpet is full of protein and zero cholesterol, they have the texture of India rubber but the water you cook them in is delicious. Then there is the winkle if you have a rocky beach in range.