SEAWEED HAS VALUE AS FOOD AND FERTILISER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 97, 13 February 1950, Page 4

SEAWEED HAS VALUE AS FOOD AND FERTILISER

Though it is quite common along New Zealand coasts, and used to a limited extent by Maoris as a table vegetable, the value of edible seaweed is not fully realised by the majority of New Zealanders. Nor is the value of various types of seaweed both as stock foods and fertilisers fully understood in this country yet. One type of edible seaweed is obtainable at and near Whakatane, and is used to some extent by local Maori people, though, on account of the strong suggestion of iodine in its flavour a taste for it is not readily acquired by everyone. However, medical science avers that its mineral content fully justifies its use. A more palatable variety is quite abundant further south along the East Coast beyond the Cape, and is quite a common article of Maori diet, though it rarely finds a place on a Pakeha table. Valued Elsewhere

In older countries where the struggle for subsistence is harder on account of thicker populations and consequently more intensive exploitation of natural resources, seaweed is highly valued, not only for human consumption, but as a stock food and fertiliser. Japanese peasants attribute their longevity and their fine' heads of hair when they are old, to their consumption of seaweed in various forms, from flour to ice' cream, and it-is no new thing in Great Britain to see the shoreside farmer collecting seaweed from nearby beaches to use on his farm as fertiliser. In fact, the northern and western islands of the United Kingdom alone gather 30,000 tons a year and these native seaweeds are estimated to be worth £IOO,OOO annually to Great Britain. Valuable Stock Food

Sheep and cattle enjoy seaweed. In the Orkneys, at the north of Scotland, sheep graze on the rocks at low water and they, with the cattle, need no encouragement to do so. There, the weed is often boiled and mixed with oatmeal as calf food.. It is used in a ground form and also as a silage, being stacked in alternate layers with hay.

Experiments carried out on animals in Great Britain showed that the beasts’ health was improved when fed on small doses of seaweed and that the fertility of cattle and chickens was increased. Horses fed on seaweed during the first world war in France were found to be healthier than those which had been fed a usual diet. In the Channel’ Islands seaweed has been used for centuries as a fertiliser and its cutting is now controlled by Government regulation. Seaweed is used as a manure for potatoes in Ireland, Scotland ' and the West of England.

Throughout the British Isles the finer seaweeds are used as spices and constituents in bread and cake making.