March 26, 2007

Woman combs shoreline to find edible seaweed
By KATE SPINNER
kate.spinner@heraldtribune.com

Standing knee-deep in the surf off Lido Beach, Heather Fortner dips her hand into the sea and pulls out a quivering mass of green algae, appropriately nicknamed “dead man’s fingers.”

"Ocean's bounty," she exclaims, then plucks a piece -- properly called Codium -- and pokes it into her mouth.

"It's a very earthy flavor," Fortner says. Like oysters.

Gracilaria, red drift algae that resemble matted hair, are "crunchy like celery, with a slightly salty, piquant taste."

Sargassum, brown algae that look like drenched feather boas, are best fried tempura-style. They have a sweet and sour flavor.

"All have the after-taste of the ocean," Fortner says.

While other beachcombers turn up their noses at the clumps of seaweed that have been washing ashore along beaches from Naples to Anna Maria Island for the past few weeks, Fortner gets excited.

After all, markets in Hawaii sell Gracilaria and Codium for about $5 a pound -- wet.

Fortner sloshes along the surf line in wettable shoes called Crocs, rifling through soft piles of algae in search of fresh specimens.

Like any vegetable, seaweed has a shelf life.

It's also chock full of vitamins and minerals that make it healthy for people, as well as other critters. So it needs to be cleaned.

Using her fingers, Fortner scrubs the algae in the Gulf water first. She gives her harvest a quick rinse at home, too, before mixing it with sauces or adding it to soups and salads.

Fortner became accustomed to eating algae as a teenager in Hawaii after reading "Stalking the Wild Asparagus," a book by Euell Gibbons about finding food in nature. She said the concept of "being able to go for a walk and pick dinner" appealed to her.

Fortner has convinced a few friends here to appreciate that concept, including a neighbor who once referred to the algae as smelly.

But converting the American palate isn't easy. Here, algae is so unpopular that some communities spend upwards of $200,000 to dispose of it during years like this when it's abundant.

In Hawaii, however, locals flock to the beaches to gather algae for food when the tide washes it ashore.

Never letting go of her fascination with the wild vegetables of the sea, Fortner studied algology in Manoa, under Isabella Abbott, a University of Hawaii botany professor and world-renowned expert on edible algae.

Abbott said algae are valuable commodities in her homeland.

"There are lots of vitamins in Codium; there are lots of minerals in both of those seaweeds," Abbott said. The nutritional value varies by species. There are hundreds of species of Gracilaria and Codium.

Abbott is partial to Codium.

"It makes a wonderful fresh salad, and it looks so pretty," she said.

Abbott wrote a book about classifying marine algae and their usefulness.

After studying at the University of Hawaii, Fortner also wrote a book: "The Limu Eater, A Cookbook of Hawaiian Seaweed."

Fortner's career eventually carried her to eastern Oregon. She lived there for 10 years, long enough to give up the thought of eating the seaweed she enjoyed in Hawaii.

Imagine her surprise when she moved to Sarasota three years ago to work for the Merchant Marine and saw the beach draped in glorious red drift algae.

"Yowzer!" was her reaction."I didn't realize the seaweeds would be so similar."
Fortner said Gracilaria is her favorite, because it's versatile. It's good fried in tempura batter, added to soup or pickled.

Gracilaria looks like a stringy mess on the beach, but when a piece is separated and cleaned by a quick scrub in the water, it looks more like a red sprig of dill.

Eve Prang Plews, a licensed nutrition counselor at Full Spectrum Health Holistic Clinic in Sarasota, said seaweeds are great sources of nutrition, although she warns against eating some fish as well as seaweed from the Gulf.

She said algae grown where strong currents carry away pollutants are healthier than those grown in the Gulf, which is laced with heavy metals and petroleum products, especially near the shoreline.

Abbott said algae don't generally accumulate pollutants, but she recommends against collecting it from a harbor."

Usually if there's good seawater motion, you're quite safe," Abbott said.

Making sure the algae are washed well is also important.
Several people became ill in Hawaii in 1994 after eating salad that contained Gracilaria. An organism that was living on the Gracilaria caused the illness.

Abbott said any vegetable needs to be washed. After all, people don't eat spinach straight from the garden.

In the spirit of the book that inspired Fortner to look beyond the garden, she doesn't just reap the sea's bounty.

In the alley beside her house, grows a weed called Chenopodium. After washing it, Fortner said she steams it and serves it like spinach.