the.com/seaweed
the ocean's overachiever, making oxygen, sushi, and ice cream while pretending to be a plant
means Any of various marine algae that grow in the sea, ranging from delicate green strands to vast brown kelp forests, harvested for food, thickeners, and fertilizer.
from A plain English compound, exactly what it says: 'sea' plus 'weed.' The 'weed' part is telling — 'weed' meant any wild, unwanted plant, so early English speakers filed these marine algae under 'nuisance growth from the salt water.' The slight irony is that seaweed isn't a true plant at all but algae; the name was coined long before anyone sorted out that distinction.
- oxygen factory
- Ocean algae produce over half Earth's oxygen
- not a plant
- Seaweeds are algae, with no true roots
- in your ice cream
- Carrageenan from seaweed thickens countless foods
- fastest grower
- Giant kelp can grow two feet daily
- ancient diet
- Humans have eaten it for over 14,000 years
sargasso sea — 2 million square miles of sargassum seaweed in north atlantic, spawning ground for atlantic eels
kombu farming — japan harvests 200,000 tons annually, kelp staple in miso soup and dashi broth
irish moss — carrageenan extracted from red algae off ireland and canada coasts since 1800s, thickener in ice cream