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Seaweed is Good for You and Can Be Tasty, Too (Video)
When you think of garage-based tech start-ups, hardware makers like Apple or data-manipulators like Google probably spring to mind before biotech, and way before farming. Lewis Weil, though, has for the last several years been perfecting the art of growing seaweed in central Texas, and his Austin Sea Veggies have garnered interest from gourmets and restaurants across the U.S. In large part, that's because seaweed is so useful for industrial purposes, it's getting harder to find eating seaweed these days. Lewis says there's nothing stopping anyone with an interest in aquaculture in emulating his success as an inland ocean farmer, but has some cautions, too -- when small things go wrong, or a record heatwave overcomes humans' puny air conditioning systems, your seaweed harvest can fail just like any other crop. Update: 09/19 16:40 GMT by T : Now with transcript! If video's too slow and linear, click below to read what Lewis had to say.
What does timothy do this time? Oh, he tries seawood. Ok then.
Weed can also be tasty, e.g. in cookies. Yummy!
"Garbage-based startups"
I make a point to grab a box of "Laver", which is roasted seaweed in salt and oil, every time I go to the local Asian grocer. It's delicious, and way better than corn chips, while still taking care of my need for crunch.
This be an appropriate story for Talk Like a Pirate Day, matey! http://www.talklikeapirate.com/
Often imported from Japan. Kind of salty like chips.
A fly by night operation that is invoking President Obama as a "spokesman" is the latest Slashdot advertiser? High class. Real high class.
So when is the Psychic Friends Network going to be paying the bills around here?
be C-weed?
you know the world is getting tight on food reserves when.....lol
yum is spinach a better go?
...seaweed!
- Japanese think everything tastes better with seaweed on it.
- Chinese think everything tastes better with green onions on it.
- Indians think everything tastes better with white onions on it.
- Koreans think everything tastes better with garlic and red chilis on it.
- Malaysians think everything tastes better with coconut flakes on it.
- Vietnamese think everything tastes better with spearmint on it.
- Hawaiians think everything tastes better with pineapple on it.
- Thais think everything tastes better with crushed peanuts on it.
- Iranians think everything tastes better with apricots on it.
- Turks think everything tastes better with sumac on it.
- Texans think everything tastes better with jalapenos on it.
- Californians think everything tastes better with avocados on it.
- Wisconsinites think everything tastes better with cheese on it.
- New Englanders think everything tastes better with cream cheese on it.
- English think everything tastes better with malt vinegar on it.
- Canadians think everything tastes better with white vinegar on it.
- Italians think everything tastes better with olive oil and balsamic vinegar on it.
- Russians think everything tastes better with red beets on it.
- Mexicans think everything tastes better with mole on it.
- Calvinists think everything tastes better with nothing on it.
- Southern Baptists think everything tastes better with bbq sauce on it.
- Catholics think everything tastes better with sour cream on it.
- Egyptians think everything tastes better on top of bread.
- Ethiopians think everything tastes better on top of injera.
- Hungarians think everything tastes better with ajvar on it.
- Costa Ricans think everything tastes better with Linzano on it.
- Cameroonians think everything tastes better with Maggie sauce on it.
- Bulgarians think everything tastes better with sunflower oil on it.
- Peruvians think everything tastes better with chili paste on it.
Grown here in Maine, and tastes great. I make a habit to purchase a bag every month. Seaweed is very nutritious, so may call it a super food.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Limited water supply is a problem in central Texas with restrictions and rationing becoming more frequent. Fortunately this seaweed farm is small. There have been other water intensive operations that have been shutdown, like a catfish farm outside of San Antonio that wastefully used tens of millions of gallons each year from the aquifer. It was only shutdown because they were discharging water into the rivers without a permit. The Rice farmers on the coast have been getting large releases every year from the lakes though the Colorado river, but not this year due to drought.
Some places are not suitable for water intensive uses.
Gathering seaweed has been common here since, hell, since the Narragansetts, Wampanoags, and Pequots discovered they could eat it. The right to access the shoreline in the Rhode Island Constitution calls out the gathering of seaweed.
You can even make desserts with it. In fact, it's in many ice creams. That "carrageenan"? It's irish moss, chucked in a blender cooked in a double boiler and turned into a gel.
Block Island Blancmange: http://www.quahog.org/factsfolklore/index.php?id=154
Irish Moss can even be stir fried.
That's just one plant. There are others. Sugar kelp. Yup.
https://eatingwiththeecosystem.org/Sugar_Kelp.html
--
BMO
How much of the world's seaweed has been and will be contaminated by the Fukushima disaster?
The authorities who handled the Fukushima disaster pumped a lot of radioactive waste water directly in to the ocean. Seaweed is an excellent absorber of iodine, and huge amounts of radioactive iodine were dumped from Fukushima.
So how much of the world's edible seaweed is at risk of radioactive contamination from Fukushima? Much of the world's edible seaweed supply comes from the Asia-Pacific region, does it not? And therefore it is especially vulnerable to contamination from Fukushima.
That's how they pay the bills you insensitive clod!
Woah, a little tense there pal ... did you know that supplements like Natrol (R) 5-HTP can help keep your moods calm?
hasn't anybody noticed that the company is currently not selling any seaweed?!
Smivs on the intertubes!
The Japanese eat a heck of a lot of seaweed, which puts an unusually high amount of iodine in their diet, which has some health benefits. The problem for this farmed seaweed is that I can't find any indication that this grower is adding any form of iodine to the under-water soil, let alone a form that is easy to absorb.
I saw a video from one of these "prepper" people who pointed out that you don't need to take multivitamins as long as you eat a balanced diet of vegetables grown in virgin soil. We have to supplement because most farmland is depleated of trace nutrients, and the organics are only marginally better. So maybe his seaweed tastes good, but I doubt it's a good source of iodine.
Don't be fooled by imitations.
If you have a company that wants a story submitted then submit the story for them, and if it is accepted ask to be paid.
Or let the company know that they can submit stories themselves.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
http://ag.arizona.edu/landandpeople/spring2004/article_10l&p.pdf
Good to see more people getting in to aquaponics.
Those who get in early will benefit the most, of course.
If you have to space, look in to it, it could get you a little bit of money as a secondary job since they are mostly automatic if you do it right.
This reminds me of Oprah and her ilk with the near-weekly bits about how to eat healthy with organics, garden-fresh veggies, and exotic whatevers over nasty and dangerous store-bought, processed or fast foods.
Somehow, they always gloss over the part that it only works if you're indpendently wealthy and can easily afford both the time and monetary expenditures required. Hell, they can't even do it themselves, but have to rely on a guest with multiple assistants and a Deus Ex Machina uber kitchen that would cost more than an average US home.
For a male context, just think of Norm on New Yankee Workshop in his six-figure setup saying: "All you need is..."
I believe if you sautee it in butter, smother it with cheese and top it with bacon crumbles, seaweed can be part of a delightful treat!
He mentions that an aquaculture farm is letting him use their greenhouses. The name contains "Dulce" which made me think of "Dulse" a seaweed that people in Ireland eat. It is not only the Japanese and Koreans (and aparently the Hawaiins) who eat seaweed. I would guess Dulse is a cold water seaweed and unsuitable for a greenhouse in Austin Texas
When I had an aquarium with seaweed in it. It grew like HECK and was tasty! So, he has reproduced what I did in my flat without really trying 25years ago? (BTW. The fish died but the seaweed was still edible and growing... I did not try the fish)
No,
You're dead wrong about farmland being "depleated" of trace nutrients. The balanced diet is the important part. In the western world, only those people with remarkably poor diets (vegan or McDonalds) and people with certian disease need vitamin supplements.
I'd guess Canadian Mennonites are the big consumers of white vinegar (for pickling--and they have the bowel disease to prove it), with homesick Brits as the big consumers of cider vinegar. Otherwise, outside of fish and chip shops, you rarely see the stuff around.
Among older English Canadians, you'd be closer to the mark with inferior/unidentifiable bubbly orange melted cheese (curds are the superior Quebecois surrogate), or for pancakes and pastries, maple syrup.
For pasta, we make an exception to the bubble orange cheese and shake Kraft brand pre-grated Parmesan out of a green plastic cylinder. You could make a similar food stuff by fabricating a solid soft-plastic cylinder, then using a mixture of table salt and MSG as grit, boring out the center until it's off-white and fluffy.
Just in the past two months cooking at home I've done Mexican, Italian, French, Moroccan, Greek, Persian, northern Indian, Chinese and Thai--not counting a leg of chicken with roast vegetables (who owns that?)
Among younger Canadians, you'd be a lot closer to the truth listing our favorite condiment as "ethnic foil pouch".
Wikipedia lists 25 different ethnic groups each accounting for at least 1% of the Canadian population. The Japanese article lacks a comparable table, because there isn't much need. A different source lists Japanese 98.5%, Koreans 0.5%, Chinese 0.4%, other 0.6% (although there has lately been a large influx of foreigners by Japanese norms). In any of the three big Canadian cities (and several smaller ones), you could without too much effort go two full months without duplicating the ethnicity of your lunch or dinner (supposing you don't count India, China, and Africa each as a single country). And if one night you're stuck for inspiration, skip a meal and tick off North Korean.
I don't eat a lot of seaweed myself, as I'm not fully equipped.
Gut bacteria in Japanese people borrowed sushi-digesting genes from ocean bacteria
Soylent Green is People!!!
I have tried *everything* I can think of:
...and still cannot see any video. /.
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