Hi, all!

Stock of powdered seaweed getting low, so it is time for me to reflect on my experience and consider what to order.

What I have used so far is:

BLADDERWRACK aka fucus vesiculosis

This tastes really putrid and the texture is quite gummy. Helped a lot initially when I was recovering from years of poor digestion and chronic yeast/candida infections. Allegedly helps with detoxification, and have used when having symptoms from being really out of balance for one reason or another. It is also supposed to help with weight loss. I wonder if that is because one can loose one's appetite entirely after experiencing its taste and texture! I only use this in extremis. A very little bit goes a very long way!

DULCE [from Maine Cast Sea Vegetables, variety not given.]

This is my favorite for taste and texture. For some reason, I seem to do a bit better on it than the kelp mentioned below much of the time. Wish I knew why, and how these varieties differ in what they have to offer.

KELP [from Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, variety not given]

This is what I have used most. Taste is good for a seaweed but it does thicken and get a bit goopy if left to set and not immediately consumed.

All three of these are allegedly harvested from the upper Maine coast, which is certainly not as far north as Iceland or Norway. This raises a few questions: What would be the advantage of getting my seaweed from farther North, as often advised by Moreless? Is this primarily for a particular sodium/potassium ratio? Is it a matter of the more extreme conditions causing a greater concentration of nutrients?

Is it primarily to get the seaweed from the purest water possible? Would that really be necessary, given some of the info we have been discussing here recently regarding which chemicals are more "assertive" in reactions? If we have plentiful alkaline minerals from high quality foods, won't toxins get "bumped" and excrete and/or fail to be absorbed???

Just trying to determine whether to continue with what I have used or try something else, and if so, what might be a good next step.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Di