1. food and drink
2. food
3. grains and pasta

Seaweed recipes and other practical
uses of Seaweeds
V. S. Krishnamurthy Chennubhotla, N. Kaliaperumal and S. Kalimuthu
Regional Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Instilute, Mandapam Camp.
Seaweeds (a plant group of the
sea). in botanical terms "Algae" form
an important food
item
in many
countries of the East as well as West.
In China, marine algae bears the name
sea-vegetable and it is not uncommon
for coastal
inhabitants
of Japan ,
Malaya , China and Phillippines to be
seen on the seashore during low tide
·collecting these sea-vegetab l es. Korea
and Japan are the two ceuntries
wh e re alg ae are farmed . but only
in Japan extensive seaweed cu lt ivation is done.
The seaweeds in India also are
used to certain extent as food, and
in coastal areas of Tamil Nadu n
particul ar type of seaweed (Graci/aria
.edulis) is being used since decad es
fa r making gruel.
A few recipes like Ulva jam , aga r
jelly, some food products requiring agar.
Seaweed salad, vegetable curry and
porridge and some other practical
·uses tp which th es e seaweeds can
be put to, are el aborated below.
Th e distribution of these seaweeds
on Indian coasts and their nutritive
value etc. ar e discussed in a separate
paper (Food from the sea; Food from
·the seaweeds).
<:lctober,
1981
1.
I. RECIPES
ULVA JAM
Ulva plants like VIva lacluea and
VIva relieulala are collected, dried and
washed se ver al time s in fresh water
until they are bleached well.
Then
the material is powdered. Sugar syrup
is prepared and in the boiling condi-·
tion the powder is added and left
to boil for about 30 minutes . When.
the material is boiled well, colour
and essence are added.
The vessel
is removed from the heater. The jam
is coo l ed and bott l ed immediatery _
This can be used just like any other
jam , along with bread, chappathi etc _
2.
AGAR JELLY
(For Agar-ag ar please see item III)
Fresh Gracilaria or Gelidiella plants
are collected and su ndri ed for three
days. They are washed severa l time s
in soft water to remove sand, lime,
sea sa lts and other adhering matter
and spread in th e sun till dry.
Th e
seawee d is ground in a stone mortar
adding water and placed in a spacious
tray or basin with so ft water for 2~
hours in a cool, airy place . The pulp
is dried thoroughly in the sun and
pulverised in a coffee grinder.
One litre of soft water is boiled
in an enamel or stainless steel vessel .
9
To the boiling water 100 grms. of
.seaweed mea l is added and stirred
from tim e to time, and th en it is
filtered through an org andy cloth.
' Sug ar to th e taste ( app ro xim ate ly
1 kg.), lim e juice. esse nc e and colouring matter are added to th e extract
and again it i s filtered in " tray
3.
through the organdy cloth.
allowed to cool under a fan .
is
Th ey a re served after cutting into·
pieces. In stead of seaweed meal , the
agar st rip s (China grass) av ai lable, in
th e market or with th e agar factories.
m ay al so be used for preparatio n of'
agar j elly as above .
FO OD PRODUCTS REQUIRING A GAR
,Food stuff
It
(From Thivy. 1958)
Qu antity of agar used
M ethod of addition
----------------------~--~----------------
Ice-C re am
1/8 teaspoonful (-le g) pe'
cup of ice· cream mix
Di sso lved in boiling wa t er and'
added to wa rm ic e-cre am mi x.
(Prevent it from melting soon)
!Tomato sauce
!
per
Di ssolved in boiling wa t er and:
added to ih e sauce towards the
end.
Boiling after adding agar
should be avoided.
On e
level t easpo on l ui
(2g) p er 1b. of th ese
Dissolved in boiling water and'
added to th ~ sauce to wards the
end.
Boiling aft er adding agar '
sho uld be avoided.
te as poon ful
(lg)
1 b. of tomato sauce
,Jams, Jelly .
.M armal ade
'Bl ancm ange
( w ithout'
corn f iou r)
4.
1 t leve l tea spo onpu l (3g) p er
cup of milk wit h suga r
Dissolved aga r in a smal l amount
o f water in a doubl e boiler and.
po ured into warm milk, not vice·
Ver sa.
SEAWEED SALAD
(prepared using any of ih e fol lowing seaweeds )
tom ato es, onio ns, ginger and sa l1 areadded to t he raw or blanched seaw eeds.
Cau/erpa racemosa, C. sertu/arioides , Codium muelleri and
Sarga ssum si/iquosum.
c) H ydroc/a thrus c/athracus
Se aweeds are washed thorou ghly'
in f res h w at er, th e tom at o es, gi nger
and patis (ferm ent ed fish sauc e) are
added. Salt is add ed to t aste. Re ady'
. to serv e.
a)
Seaweed s a re cl ea n ed of sand,
d ebr is att ac hed stones, tfi en was hed
in fresh water.
Chopp ed tom atoes
and onion s are added. Salt is added
to t aste.
Graci/aria confervoides and G.
eucheumoides
Seaweeds are
wash ed fr ee of
Then
dirt, sand and salt w at er.
b)
October,
1981
d) Laureneia p .,pillosa
Wa shed tho roug hly, and ma shed.
tomato es add ed. Ready to serve.
e) P orphyra sp.
Wash ed tho roughly, then tomatoes,
ginger and sa Ii added. Ready to serve_
11
When th e seaweed is us ed in the
form of sheets they are soaked in
hot waier, wa shed and drained tho roughly af ter which tomato es, ginger
and sa lt are added. Ready to Serve.
5.
SEAWEED VEGETABLES
(prepared using the following sea weeds)
a)
Gracilari3 eucheumoides
Seaweeds
cleaned,
then added
ORIENT
TO
ORIENT
NEW TOYO SEAFOODS
COMPANY, LTD.
to fi sh preparation recipes havi ng soup.
b)
Sargassum siliquosum
Seaweeds cleaned and cut into
pieces, th en added t o th e hot fish
preparation with soup .
6.
SEAWEED CURRY
(prepared using any of the following sp.aweeds)
IMPORT
o ....OZEN SHRIMPS
o LOBSTER HEAD
o ....OG LEGS
o
OTHER MARINE PRODUCTS
Acanlhophora spicifera and Caulerpa
s ~"ula ta
EXPORT
Fresh seaweeds are w ashed 10
fresh water to remove stones , sa nd etc.
o
o
Boiling water is then poured into the
cleaned seaweed and drained atter
one minute. Th en chopped tomato es,
onions, ginger an d patis are added
to the seaweed. Vinegar or calamansi
can be used instead of tomatoes .
7.
SEAWEED PORRIDGE (Seaweed
gruel) Or SEAWEED KANJI
Some of the seaweeds like Gracilaria edulis are used for the prepartion
of porridge in the coastal districts of
Tamil Nadu . The seaweed is boiled
with water just as done in the pr eparation
of . rice gruel.
in foreign countries
1981
PLANTS
ALL KINDS
OF FISHING
GEARS AND EQUIPMENTS
OFFER
ALL TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW
Address :
ISHIKAWA BLDG.,
20-1, 2 Chome,
Misaki - eho - Chiyoda - ku
TOKYO , JAPANTel ep hon e:
The items Ag ar- jelly and seaweed
porridge are very popular in coastal
a rea s of Tamil Nadu , while the sa lade,
vegetables and curries of seaweeds
October,
FREEZING
Finally it is
taken with little salt.
are popular
o
FISHING TRAWLERS
like
Cabl e Address:
264- 4373
" Newsea food Tokyo "
262-4408
or
402 - -7830 Re s: "B anerji Tokyo"
Telex : Newfood J 25220
Philippines, Japan, China
etc. for
which trials are to be made in Indi a
also for popularising them. Th e recipe
for the ulva jam was ev olved at Central
Marine Fishe ries Rese a rch Institute
and was found to be very deliciou3 .
.J! ,
OTHER
'1,
SEAWEED MANURE
PRACTICAL
SEAWEEDS
USES
Everything For Freezers
Cold Storages, Ice Plants
& Refrigeration
Equipmeots ....... .
OF
Use of seaweeds as manure is a
Commo n practice
in coastal
area s
throughout the wo rld.
In Indi a also
it is used for coconu t plantation s
especia lly in Tamil Nadu.
The high
amo unt of water soluble potash and
other min erals present in seaw eeds
are readily absorbed by pl ants. Th e
ca rb ohydra t es
and
other chem icals
present in the seaw eeds improve th e
moisture retainin g capacity of the soi l
and contro l certain plant disea ses.
Ther efore all seaweeds and seag rass
(growing as well as cast ashore) CJn
be used as manure ei th er directly or
in the fo_rm of compost .
.2.
SEAWEED COMPOST
Compost of seaweeds, fish offal
.and sharkliver sedim ents (15: 3: 4 by
weight) taking thr ee months to be
stablized,
can be
prepared.
This
·co mpost has 2.4% N, 0.7% P and 3.5%
Potas h w hich is of high manurial
value. Th e yield per plant per Season
.in case of plant s receiving compost
.is more than tho se receiving CDwdu ng
and wood ash.
The pe ak fruiting
seaso n advances by one month in the
form er plants. M arked differences can
be seen in six weeks . and the standard
'size of fruits will be availaDle in two
weeks earlier than th e plants receiving
·cowding and wood ash and thre e
weeks earlier th an th e plants receiving
OctQber,
1981
IMPORTERS AND STOCKISTS OF
Refrigeration f:quipment such as Contact
Freezer Plates . Open Type Compressors. for
Plate Freezors and Cold Storages. Air
Handling Units and D efusers. So lenoid
Valves. Expansion Valves.
Thermost ats.
Dial Thermom eters, Gau ges, Copper Tubes ,
Globe Valves. etc ,
UNIVERSAL COMMERCIAL CO,
17, COMMERCE HOUSE, ROPE WALK LANE,
OFF FORBES ST.. FORT, .BOMBAY 400 001
Cable: 'UNICOMM ER' Phones:
,
i'ii7li"ii'IfI!I!!I!!!!.
"
15
on ly woo d ash .
In th e fi el d tr ial s
co nduc ted at C. M . F. R. Institu t e t o
stu dy th e eff ec t s of Hepnea compost
(Hyp nea and t he c o w dung are kept
in alt eratin g l ayers in a pit, c o v ered
wi th leaves for a per i od of 3 mo nth s)
cn Bhindi. 73/ ;' increase in yi eld was
obse rve d .
o bt ain ed
RemC!r kfl b le
wi th
sw ee t p otato
r~ sult s
tuberou s
crops
and t ap io ca
w e re
like
an d o the r
v egetabl e pl ants.
3.
and w ashed w eed s. It ca n b e mi xed'
w ith f is h m ea l al so and used as a
poul tr y fee d .
III.
SECONDARY FOOD PROD U CTS·
DERIV ED FROM SEAWEED S
1.
A GAR - AGAR
It is a ca rbohydrate ex tr ac t ed from
cert ai n red seaweeds like Graci/aria
an d Gelidiella ,
It is used in many
in dustries
SEAWEED M EAL FOR POU LT RY
AN D CATTLE
As seawe ed s are chea p sou rces
f or mi nerals and trac e e lements, mea ls
p repar ed f rom seaweed s can be uti lise d
as supp l eme nts to th e daily rat ion of
t he cattl e, poultry and o t her f arm
anima ls. Seaweed meals can be prepared fr om U/va, Enteromorpha , Gracilaria,
Hypnea ..
Largassum,
Aadin p,
Dietsota etc. by pul v e ri sing th e c l ea ned
lik e
phar maceuti ca ls,
food
and confect ion ary, rubb er, p aint and
va rni she s and efec t ric bulbs, p hoto f il ms and al so a cu ltu re medium in
b act er.iolog y and mycolog y .
2.
ALG IN
It is a ca rbohydrat e ex t rac t ed fr om
cert ain bro w n seaw eeds li ke Sagra ssum
and Turbinaria .
It is used in texil es,
pap e r, pha rmaceuti cals, ca nning c o smet ic s, food Indu stry etc.
REFERE NCES
Be rsa min S. V .. et. af. 197 4 .
Som e sea wee ds CD nsum ed fres h
in
Phili r,p in es .
The Ph lippines
J our . of Fi sh. 8(2) : 783 - 789.
T h ivy F. 1 960
Seaweed ut iljzaIion in India.
16
Proc .
Symp. Algology,
pp. 345 - 365 .
I CAR Ne w Delh i
Uma m ah es wa ra Rao , M . 1970.
The economic seaweed s of Indi a .
Bull, Cent. Mar , Fi sh . Res, I nst.
No. 20
0
Sea f o o d Export Jou rna i