Gigartina spp. Rehia. Irish moss. Carrageen.
Māori names
Māori names
Common names
Food
Drying procedure and jelly making process described in Moore & Adams 1963.
Jelly used in food preparations, for clearing wort in brewing. Boiled with juice of tūpākihi (Coriaria species) (Taylor 1855)
Unbleached weed takes more soaking and cooking than bleached. Unbleached carrageen gives off a rather unpleasant smell which doesn"t carry over into the taste. Details given of bleaching process. Recipes ( Moore 1944).
Gathered in the sea close to shore, or on the beach, and cooked in hangi and eaten. (Makereti 1938)
"The species used are purply or blackish-red weeds (the colour varies a little with the habitat), from a quarter to three-quarters of an inch wide, up to six inches long, thickish and somewhat divided; they grow on rocks in clean water, where there is a moderate amount of movement. It is best to dry the weed after picking; it is then boiled and allowed to set, after adding any desired fruit or flavour." (Mason 1950)
Dyes
Jelly used for duplicating pads, cosmetics, and in paint and leather industries. (Moore & Adams 1963)
Medicinal
Jelly used in cough mixtures. During last war, New Zealand Gigartina sent to Australia to be used in toothpaste (Moore & Adams 1963).
Chief constituent is carbohydrate which is little assimilated but provides bulk. Smooth and soothing to the membranes, so used where there is inflammation of the alimentary canal. Gently laxative.
See Riley 1994 for information on medicinal uses of related plants elsewhere in the world.
