July 31, 2011
Our class met early at low tide at a beach near Lincoln City. Several of the participants had taken a clam-digging class with Kallas the day before. I wasn't the only attendee down from near Seattle; Kallas attracts students from all over to his wild food classes. He has a great selection - I want to take every one on the list! His classes can teach you how to make acorn pudding, forage for food in your neighborhood, and/or cook up a pancake from cattails. He also has a lecture on the wild foods of Native Americans. I took it last year and enjoyed it.
Our class headed right out to the shoreline to get started with identifying and harvesting seaweed. (This one is sea palm, named, obvs, for its shape.) Kallas walked us through sustainable and responsible harvesting, including leaving the holdfasts, how far up on the plant to cut, etc. Some of these are not just best practices, there might be local regulation, so before you go out to harvest, learn from an expert and check local guidelines.
Kallas shows us sea lettuce. In addition to the identification and harvesting, he also guided us through tasting and evaluating our reactions to the different seaweeds. We all took small bites and called out our opinions on taste and texture. He noted that one needs to keep in mind this is the raw, unseasoned version, and like, say, uncooked broccoli, might not be immediately appealing upon first taste. With some culinary creativity, there's a lot you can do with these vegetables.
After the introduction and initial instruction, we all tried our hand at harvesting.
Here is a whole big thicket of oarweed kombu. In OR, no license is required for personal seaweed harvesting, although there is a limit of 10 lbs per person. For WA, you must obtain a license through the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. It's also important to check for closures or other health risks prior to harvesting. See this site for contacts for WA state. http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/shellfish_seaweed_rules.html
Although the ruffley bits in the center and top might look like aging or otherwise degraded versions of the shiny smooth kombu, this is actually delicious nori coating the kombu. So harvesting these is a twofer.
Feather boa seaweed. The fringe and balls are edible. (The balls are "sea olives" for their shape and salty-savoriness.)
This is fucus seaweed, aka bladderwrack, referring to those puffed floats or bladders at the tips. This is the seaweed I'd learned about from Jennifer Hahn at her "Pacific Feast" lecture. The floats can be filled with a mucilaginous substance. Hahn has a recipe that puts that substance to tasty use: she dries out the floats in a warm oven, then sprinkles them with cheddar powder (from boxed mac and cheese). The mucilaginous substance dries out to a fluffy, "cottonlike" consistency, and when sprinkled with cheese powder, resembles a Cheeto!
There is also a smaller form of this fucus. As you can see, snails like it too.
Turkish towel seaweed. As you probably know, many commercial products use seaweed-based ingredients as a thickener. Kallas noted that using seaweeds in soups and stews can help make them have a richer, thicker mouthfeel. And they can be used in sweet preparations as well as savory. Hahn also has a recipe in Pacific Feast for a pudding that uses Turkish towel as the thickening agent to set the cream into the desired thick texture.
Although, we learned, there are not many dangerous seaweeds, this is one to avoid: acidic seaweed, Desmarestia ligulata. It produces and stores sulfuric acid. Because its effects are mainly a problem in the stomach, we could at least taste it and spit it out. I braved it and thought it was a shame it's not edible as it does have a bright lemony flavor.
A group of pelicans kept our class company. I originally thought the only collective name for pelicans was "pod' which I didn't think captured this bird's sort of...prehistoric oddball appearance and dramatic group flying maneuvers, but a friend let me know they can also be called a "scoop" of pelicans, which I think is perfect.
It was an excellent time of day to be on the beach, a prototypically beautiful and misty Oregon Coast morning.
The class was also an opportunity to collect mussels and barnacles, and Kallas walked everyone through the harvesting process and regulations to follow. I, however, didn't participate in that part; since I was going to be driving back to Seattle that day, and too busy to cook over the next few days, I figured I'd save the cost of the license.
Instead, I checked out some other sea critters. I watched a sea snail move surprisingly quickly across the sand. Sea snails are edible and licenses are not required in WA or OR (although daily limits still exist). However, based on the current listing on the WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife, I believe that the season is closed.
We saw one lone sea urchin. I missed this conversation, but believe that that there has been a dearth of sea urchins recently in the area. We did see plenty of sea stars (that fellow to the right), so they seem to be doing okay.
We also saw many of these chiton. I don't think I'd ever seen any that big before. Apparently they are edible, but their structure makes it a nuisance to try. Kallas noted that each of the back plates extend into the flesh in such a way that you can't get any substantial amount of meat out.
A young attendee showed me the hermit crab he found.
After we harvested, the group sat together to eat our sack lunches, and Kallas answered questions and provided addtional handouts, including a reading list and other helpful resources. By the time we wrapped up, the morning mist had burned off to reveal this gorgeous day. It was a fantastic class, and I'd recommend checking it out when it's offered. Also see www.WildFoodAdventures.com for more class listings and information.