Alaria marginata

What to Eat

Edible parts: Algae, Seaweed, Fronds, Midrib, Sporophyll, Vegetable

The blades can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable or added to soups fresh or dried. The chopped fresh midrib is added to salads. The sporophylls are fried and eaten. It is also processed into kelp meal used as a food supplement.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant.

Alaska, Asia, Canada, Japan, North America, Russia, USA,

How to Identify

A temperate seaweed in the kelp family with edible fronds and a prominent midrib.

Alaria marginata, the winged kelp, is a brown alga species in the genus Alaria. It can grow up to 13 feet. Fronds are long and narrow with raised midrib and wavy edges. Each frond has two rows of several smooth, oblong, 5 inch spore-bearing blades at the base in winter. According to a study done by Widdowson(1971), the kelp Alaria marginata has been known to occupy certain wave-exosed intertidal habitats. These habitats can be found in the northeast Pacific from Alaska to near Point Conception, California. Alaria marginata has been the dominant macroalga on this exposed mid-to-low rocky shores along the Big Sur coast of California. The kelp commonly grows in large patches, which offers habitat and sustenance for tide pool organisms. In the kelp species Alaria marginata, phenolics act as chemical defence against herbivores. Higher concentrations of the phenolics were found in the reproductive fronds when compared to the vegetative blades, which were consumed at a higher rate by herbivorous snails.

More from Alariaceae

Alaria esculenta

Dabberlocks, Wing kelp, Atlantic wakame

Alaria ochotensis

Karafuto-wakame

Egregia menziesii

Feather boa, Boa kelp

Undaria pinnatifida

Wakame, Japanese kelp, Apron-ribbon vegetable