Bladderwrack is an easy-to-recognize sea vegetable, found attached to rocks along ocean shores of Alaska and most of the world. The olive-brown blades, which grow to 18 inches in length, divide in twos and have prominent midribs. The distinctive inflated tips are mucilaginous. These bladders contain the male and female gametes (eggs and sperm) that have propagated these algae for over 400 million years.

      DERIVATION OF NAME: The botanical name Fucus is from the Greek phykos, meaning “seaweed.”

      OTHER NAMES: rockweed, popweed, old man’s firecrackers, caritet (Alutiiq).

      RANGE: Southeast Alaska to the Chukchi Sea.

      HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Collect the inflated tips and tender ends of fronds from late winter to early summer. Clip above the small disc-like holdfast that anchors the sea vegetable to rocks. Remove any snails or debris. Rinse in ocean water.

      FOOD USE: Nibble bladderwrack raw on beach hikes. Steam Fucus with clams or mussels to heighten flavors. Add fresh chopped tips to pasta sauce as a thickener. Try popweed chips; rub bladderwrack tips thoroughly with a blend of olive oil, tamari or coconut aminos, nutritional yeast, and seasonings of choice, and then dehydrate until crisp. Pour boiling water over 1 teaspoon fresh or sun-dried Fucus for a tasty tea; add mint, nettles, lemon, or other flavorings as desired. Use fresh or dry bladderwrack in soup starter or fish broth. Sauté bladderwrack with fresh onions and ginger, a dash of sweet and sour sauce, sesame seeds, and goosetongue. Kodiak Alutiiq call bladderwrack caritet and eat it raw, dipped in oil or with sea urchin eggs.

      HEALTH USE: If you get burned while cooking on your beach campfire, break open a Fucus bladder for its soothing aloe-like gel. Soak your tired feet in a bladderwrack footbath. Bladderwrack contains the alphabet of vitamins (A to E, as well as K), and a complex array of minerals and trace elements. Clinical studies at McGill University confirm that sodium alginate in Fucus and other brown algae binds with radioactive strontium 90 in the intestines, thus causing it (as well as heavy metals) to be eliminated from the body. Another clinical trial notes the ability of Fucus to lower cholesterol levels and to reduce risk of estrogen-related cancers.

      OTHER: Burn dry bladderwrack with alder to smoke salmon. Nourish your beds of potatoes and cabbage with potash-rich Fucus. In Ireland in the 1900s, there were some 300 seaweed bathhouses popular for relieving stress and tired muscles; indulge in the seaweed spa in your very own home. Finish off with a bladderwrack hair rinse.

      CAUTION: Due to the mucilage in bladderwrack tips, bladderwrack can have a laxative effect. Harvest only in uncontaminated waters. Consult your doctor concerning use if you have any type of thyroid imbalance or are taking any blood-thinner medication.

BEACH GREENS

      Honckenya peploides, aka Arenaria peploides Pink family (Carophyllaceae)