Badderlocks
Alaria esculenta is an edible seaweed, also known as
dabberlocks or
badderlocks, or
winged kelp. It is a traditional food along the coasts of the far north Atlantic Ocean. It may be eaten fresh or cooked in Greenland, Iceland, Scotland and Ireland. It is the only one of twelve species of Alaria to occur in the British Isles.
Grows to a maximum length of 2 m. The whole frond is brown and consists of a distinct midrib with wavy membranous lamina up to 7 cm wide on either side. The frond is unbranched and tapers towards the end. The base has a short stipe arising from a rhizoidal holdfast. The stipe may bear several sporophylls which are club-shaped and up to 20 cm long and 5 cm broad which bear the spores.
It grows from a short cylindrical stipe attached to the rocks by a holdfast of branching root-like rhizoids and grows to about 20 cm long. The stipe is continued into the frond forming a long conspicuous midrib, all other large and unbranched brown algae to be found in the British Isles are without a mid-rib. The lamina is thin, membranous with a wavy margin.
CookingThe seaweed is edible and used to be commonly served either as a vegetable or a salad leaf in Ireland and Scotland. It is the only kelp-like seaweed in the British Isles that has a distinct midrib and cannot be confused with anything else. It is also the only seaweed with sporophylls. In Canada and the USA this seaweed is sometimes sold as 'Atlantic wakame' and is presented as an alternative to Japanese wakame Undaria pinnatifida. Indeed, though the colours differ (true wakame is green), dabberlocks can be substituted for any Japanese recipe calling for wakame.
Read More At
Wikipedia
Recipes Using
Dabberlocks.
