Eating local seaweed is about a lot more than minerals!
Join Julie Drucker of Yemaya Seaweeds in a three-class series that includes sampling eight of the 600 local seaweed varieties that live in the waters along the Northern California Coast (Sea Palm, Wakame, Nori, Turkish Towel and Sweet Kombu, Ocean Ribbons, Bladderwrack, Kombu). Learn how the seaweeds are processed, and why seaweed harvesting is such an important endeavor to support. Also covered will be nutritional information, culinary suggestions and best storage practices. Dried seaweed will be available to purchase during each class along with free recipes to take home. The series includes an optional one-day field trip to the Sonoma Coast to identify and harvest seaweeds along the shore and learn how some varieties are sustainably cut.
Class 1: Nutritional benefits: Sample a variety of local sea vegetables and learn about their nutrient contents. The variety you like the most is probably the one you need the most! Learn how the sea vegetables are hand-harvested and sun-dried today using ancient techniques.
Class 2: Seaweed for the Season: Discuss culinary and herbal techniques for using sea vegetables in Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall. For example, uses in soups, teas, and congees.
Class 3: Benefits of locally harvested seaweed for the ecosystem, ocean health and the local community. Learn how quickly our ocean ecology is changing.
Seaweed Harvesting Field Trip (optional): Join us for an early-morning trip to the beautiful Sonoma Coast. Date TBA. Discover and explore the natural environment where the sea vegetables live and learn how to harvest in a sustainable way. Drive your own car or carpool with someone from the class.
Cost is $160 for three classes, including the optional Seaweed Harvesting Field Trip (date TBD).
Julie Drucker has been harvesting seaweed from the Mendocino Coast since 2003. Since 2008 she has run Yemaya Seaweeds. She teaches foraging and nutrition classes at the Ohlone Herbal College in Berkeley.
