Seaweed workshop April 14th

On Saturday, April 14th, 2 local IWT members will lead a seaweed workshop at Clonea Strand Hotel near Dungarvan as part of the Waterford Festival of Food. Hilary and Marie, along with Grace, will do a 2 hour talk / demo / tasting session and beach walk on how to identify edible seaweeds and how to cook with them to make tasty and wholesome dishes and snacks. Booking is necessary for this event with the organisers ...click here   

September/October walks

Hi everyone,

What a great summer this was for us humans as well as the plants, butterflies and bats (less so for the 5-in-a-row hurlers perhaps, but we can't all be happy!).

Here are a few outings in the wild - or close to it - for the autumn season that might interest you.

Saturday, Sept 18th; IWT National AGM in Cork (members only) . 11am - 1 pm / Forest Walk after lunch)

Sunday Sept. 26th: 2pm Tramore : Seaweed workshop. Free event, no need to book.2pm.... a free Seaweed Workshop hosted by Marie Power, Regional Chairperson of the Irish Wildlife Trust, Field Ecologist Grace O’Sullivan and Hilary Killops on the front deck at Oceanics Surf School & Marine Education Centre. The Seaweed workshop will focus on the health benefits of seaweed and its uses, from tasting to cooking with it, and the identification of seaweed will be included. (anyone got a more recent picture...this one from 2004)
Check the archive on this blog for uses of seaweed.

Saturday October 2nd: 2-4.30pm: Mushroom Hunt in Lismore. More details and booking arrangements on the IWT website

Sunday October 24th: Seaweed Wokshop, Clonea Strand, Dungarvan. Booking neccessary. Details on the local website, part of the Return to the Deise weekend.

Everyone is welcome to IWT outings and feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would like to join an informal walk / talk in nature and some sharing of knowledge about plants, animals, birds, habitats etc. We would love to hear your suggestions / proposals for walks, events, practical conservation work in Waterford and the South East.

Seaweed Workshop

The Waterford Branch will host a Seaweed workshop in Ardmore on Sunday 25th July at 11.30 a.m. The meeting place is Halla Deaglan on the main street in Ardmore.

The workshop will consider the uses and benefits of seaweeds, types of edible seaweeds on our shores and how to use them in cookery. This will be followed by a trip to the beach to identify the seaweeds and harvest them is a sustainable way.

The event is free and should conclude about 1.30.

There are a range of other activities such as whale and dolphin watching, and bird watching taking place as part of the Ardmore Pattern Festival (download programme in pdf format)

Seaweeds

"Have some seaweed pasta sauce, Ah go on, go on"

Samples of Marinated Aalaria (wakame), Laver bread (made with sloughan), Cheese and Dilisk Scones, Kelp Crisps, Carageen Chocolate Blancmange were all on offer at Kilfarrassey on Saturday last. Recipes available on the blog (check under March postings in Archive on left side) or by emailing Marie Power

Bealtaine events on 23rd and 24th May

As part of the Bealtaine Festival organised by Calmast, the Waterford branch of the Irish Wildlife Trust will host the following two events.

To book, login here

Food for Free!
Join Marie Power on Saturday 23rd May at Kilfarassey Strand, Fenor, Co. Waterford for seaweed identification and it's use in cooking. The event will include samples of "sea vegetables" and dishes made from them, a scramble on the rocks to see how they grow and how to collect in a sustainable way, and some beauty uses of seaweed. Those interested should assemble at 10.30am at Kilfarrassey carpark.
Directions: From Tramore take coast road (R675) towards Dungarvan. Just before the village of Fenor, take the turn to the left which is signposted Kilfarassey. The car park is about a mile down this road.

Wildwatch.
Date: Sunday 24th May
Venue: Mahonbridge/ Comeraghs - Mahon bridge Village. Participants will learn about the animals and plants that live in the Comeraghs. The Crough Walk is a 2km woodland walk along the banks of the Mahon Stream. Here we will do some nature spotting, mammal tracking, tree naming, stream dipping and identifying bird calls.
The walk will be lead by Denis Cullen.We will assemble at 2.00 pm at Mahon Bridge. Directions: From Waterford take the N25 (Cork road). Turn off (right) just past Kilmacthomas for Mahonbridge. Continue for approximately 4km until you arrive in the village of Mahonbridge

Best Uses of Seaweed from Marie

Using Seaweed

Cooking
Seaweed must be dried within a day or two of harvesting. Drip dry over a covered clothesline out of sunlight. Or over stove. Or in hot press. Not necessary to rinse in fresh water, unless you are avoiding salt. Except in the case of Slouchan – purple laver / sea lettuce, which needs lots of rinsing to remove sand etc.

Stock
Briefly rinse, then soak kelp (2 x 6 inch pieces) overnight. Add to 3L water with parsley stalks, bouquet garni, few porcini mushrooms. Boil for 15 - 40 mins or longer. Strain. Use in combination with your normal stock initially at least.

Kelp (Oarweed / Kombu) can be used again e.g. for tendersing beans. Compost it when finished.

Condiment
Briefly toast and grind in pestle and mortar: Dilisk, Alaria, Bladderwrack, Channelwrack, Sugar Kelp, Sloughan (Purple laver/Nori). Mix all or some of these and use sprinkled on poached eggs, soup, salsa, salad. This will give you full spectrum of trace elements, minerals and vitamins. Add Alaria to rice like this for a “chickeny” flavour.

Crisps

Put 1-2 inch pieces of Sugar Kelp, Kelp or Dilisk in a hot oven until they crisp –3-5 mins. Sugar kelp and kelp are very high in iodine, and should only be eaten very occasionally.

Salads: Sea spaghetti (Thong weed) and Alaria (Winged Kelp/Wakame) can be marinated and added to salads.

• Sea spaghetti. First soak in water for an hour. Rinse, then marinate in lemon juice and balsamic vinegar for a few hours of overnight. Chop and add to salads – especially nice with grated carrot salad, dressed with a lemon/mustard/olive oil/garlic dressing

• Alaria (winged kelp) Soak 1 cupful / or 2 * 6 inch pieces dried) in tepid water for 20 mins. Saute for 1 min : 1 tbsp soy sauce; 3 garlic cloves; 2 tsp honey; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp grated ginger. Add the Alaria and little soak water, bring to the boil and simmer for 40 mins, until the mid-rib is soft.. Add soak water if needed. Remove from heat and add a dash of sesame oil and more honey if needed. Serve mixed gently through salads or as a side dish with grains.

You can make pesto, salsa, pate, pasta, breads, scones, mousse, carrot cake and even ice cream with seaweeds. Watch out for a new Seaweed Cookery book by Dr. Prannie Rhatigan with recipes for these and more.
In the meantime, to get you started here are 2 of yesterday’s recipes. The soup was Butternut squash, but you could use the stock for any soup.

Cheese and Dilisk Scones

(from Dr. Prannie Rhatigan, Sligo, with thanks)

Ingredients

Method

40g / 2 ozs dried dilisk, toasted and crumbled Olive oil for frying 2 onions 2 garlic cloves 1lb plain flour or white spelt ¼ tsp cream of tartar 1 level tsp baking powder 2 level tsp mustard powder ¼-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 85g/ 3 oz butter, softened 1 egg, beaten 227ml/ 8fl oz milk 85g/ 3 oz grated strong cheese or hard goats cheese 25g / 1 oz strong cheddar/ smoked cheese/ Parmesan for sprinkling

Dry dilisk in hot oven for 2-3 mins, or in a cool AGA overnight. Crumble into flakes when cool enough to handle Preheat oven to 210 c / 410 f/ Lightly grease 2 baking trays. Fry onions and garlic till soft, mix in crumbled dilisk towards end and allow to cool. Sift flour, BP and C of T into a bowl. Stir in mustard and cayenne. Dice and rub in butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add almost all egg/milk in a well in centre and mix gently. Stir in cheese along with cooled onion/dilisk mixture. (I prefer to add all these before the egg/milk). Turn dough onto floured surface and flatten or roll to just over 1” thick. Stamp out scones, brush with reserved milk/egg mixture and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 12- 15 mins.

Hilary’s Chocolate Carragheen with Irish Coffee Sauce

(Ask your diners to guess the ingredient AFTER they’ve tasted it!)

Ingredients

Method

600ml / 1pt. Milk 20g / ¾ oz carragheen moss 250g / 9 oz caster sugar 115 / 4 oz plain chocolate 2.5ml / ½ tsp groundnut oil (for oiling cups) 90 ml / 6 tbsp water 250 ml / 8 fl oz strong coffee 15ml / 1 tbsp Irish Whiskey grated chocolate and lightly whipped cream to serve

Put milk carragheen and 1oz/25g sugar in saucepan and bring to boil. Then simmer for 15 mins. Chop chocolate into small pieces or grate, remove milk etc. from heat and stir in chocloate until melted. Strain this mixture. Lightly oil 4 teacups, pour in choc. Carragheen and chill until set. Heat rest of sugar and water gently in heavy based saucepan until sugar dissolves and reaches pale syrup stage. Pour in coffee & stir over gentle heat until smooth. Remove from heat, cool and add whiskey. Leave to cool. Invert each mousse onto a plate and pour sauce around. Decorate with grated choc. And cream.

Skin Care
Use bunch of Fucus Serratus or Bladderwrack in your bath to soften and refresh skin.
Rinse seaweed in seawater and remove all living creatures. Place in bath and our very hot water over. Fill bath as normal, and soak for as long as you can! Compost seaweed afterwards

Gardening
Use Kelp (Oarweed) to improve soil condition and nutrients. October: Wash in fresh water, then shred and place on soil. Fork it in. Or lay on top of soil and cover with black plastic until ready for spring planting.
Use as “collar” / mulch around plants to keep slugs away. Add rinsed seaweed to your compost to activate.

Harvesting
Observe safety when collecting on rocks. Start one hour before low tide and keep facing the sea. Wear strong slip-proof and waterproof footwear. Only take what you need. Cut off a piece of the frond (“leaves”) rather than pulling the whole plant from the rocks. Remember, lots of other species need the seaweed to live on! Pick from areas you know to have clean water.

marpower@eircom.net www.iwt.ie