Ocean’s bounty

Health supplements are costly, but power-packed edible seaweed can be freely foraged

Yes, it’s that slimy green stuff that makes you shudder when you swim across it in the sea. But we Brits are becoming aware that seaweeds – or sea veggies – are a rich source of vitamins and minerals. In the past year alone, Sainsbury’s has seen an 89% increase in online searches for seaweed products, including “Welsh caviar” and “bacon of the sea”. And if you learn how to forage for it safely, it’s free.

Mara Seaweed founder Fiona Houston says, “Seaweed used to be an important part of our native diet. It’s a truly natural, nutritionally dense superfood, containing a unique combination of all 56 vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and trace elements essential for health.”

Below are five benefits ascribed to seaweed…