People have long started adding seaweed to their diet. It can be used both as food and as medicine. But how is sea kale obtained?
Healthy seaweed
Laminaria is commonly called kelp, and there are about 30 types of seaweed. Only cabbage leaves are considered edible. They contain many useful vitamins, and if you consume seaweed for at least a week, then a person's well-being and health noticeably improves.
Initially, seaweed was harvested from the sea. But then, in order to protect the environment, it was necessary to abandon this method of extraction. And now seaweed is grown on special plantations in Korea, Japan and China, artificially formed at the bottom of the sea. The stones are dipped in water so that they form a layer of soil on top of which the spores are dropped. Sometimes, to form such a plantation, rocks are blown up, the fragments of which become new soil for kelp.
Seaweed mining process
In some areas, seaweed is still harvested from the sea. For example, kelp is mined in the White Sea (near the Solovetsky Islands). People who are engaged in harvesting seaweed are called pulled. For work, they use a special device - a dredge. With its help, the seaweed growing at the bottom is cut off. Also, recently, they have been using another tool - the cabea, which looks like a three-pronged fork. With this device, cabbage is harvested by winding it on a fork, like pasta.
This work is very hard, therefore only strong men are engaged in the extraction of kelp. In fine, clear weather, workers go to sea twice a day to collect herbs. On average, a working day can last 15-18 hours. All this time they ride on carabases and collect grass from the bottom.
The next day, when the cabbage dries up, cut the roots and remove the dry algae. Drying algae is a rather problematic process, since usually collective farms do not have special equipment; seaweed is dried on hangers. And in rainy weather, the production of kelp decreases sharply.
After drying, the seaweed is sorted. The best is sold to various beauty salons for body wraps. Cabbage is used there - with whole unprocessed leaves. Also, the French are very interested in Solovetsky seaweed due to the presence of a unique amount of polysarides in it.
Low grade kelp go to the needs of the food industry. Most often, you can find them in a tin can, which says "Seaweed Salad".
