I’m in Vrångö, An island in Sweden’s fjord-like Western Archipelago With local chef, professional seaweed diver and seaweed safari guide Carolina Martinson, whose work is as delicious as it is vital. Some days, Martinson takes guests into the water, either diving into the icy depths in a wet suit or snorkeling in the shallows and trimming oceanfront lawns.
Today, however, I’m staying on dry land and attending a seaweed cooking class with her. In front of me, a glossy plate displays 12 different types of seaweed in texture, color and smell – from gloopy and gritty, long and stringy to rubbery and spongy. By afternoon, I’m going to learn how to transform this bounty of seaweed—picked fresh this morning—into a delicious algae-based feast.
“I’ve been interested in seaweed for over 25 years, and I see a big change,” says Martinson. “In the beginning, I was one of the few people talking about this. I felt alone. Then about 15 years ago seaweed farming started properly in Sweden.”
In just over a decade, The effects of seaweed farming are already evident. East of Sweden, facing the semi-enclosed and shallow Baltic Sea, seaweed acts as an important sea-cleaning agent, absorbing the byproducts of intensive land cultivation and acting as a filter. “Seaweed does not retain PFAs (permanent chemicals), which makes it resilient to a major threat to our food system, especially in the oceans,” she says.
Picking up long, dark green strands ready to be cut into bite-sized pieces, I see what Martinsson is talking about. As I clip the thick, textured seaweed, it releases an iodine aroma not unlike wakame, the seaweed salad popular in Japan.
The key to Martinson’s seaweed safari is learning how Sustainably harvest algae so that it is suitable for regeneration. Some seaweed clusters can be over 50 years old, so it is important that we know how to age them so that they can be harvested appropriately and the organisms survive. For example, in the case of egg wrapper seaweed, you can age it by counting the total number of eggs, as it produces a shiny, hard bead each year.
This is a life-threatening possibility, as the production of seaweed is estimated At least 50 percentage-and as much 70 percent– Earth’s oxygen. Additionally, by growing significantly faster than land-based plants, seaweed can sequester CO2 more effectively. Once absorbed by seaweed, the carbon dioxide eventually sinks to the ocean floor, where it is neutralized.