Scott Knippelmeir

Farmer Heidi Herrmann is mining nature's gold on the shores of Sonoma.

Heidi Herrmann runs a small farm outside of Sebastopol, and she teaches sustainable agriculture classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. But on low tides, she goes from farmer to forager and can be found gathering seaweed along the Sonoma Coast.

At farmer's markets in Occidental, Healdsburg and Sebastopol, Heidi sells these salty sea vegetables along with fresh produce and canned goods. Those in the know are aware that seaweed is high in protein, iron and many other vitamins and minerals. It's good for the thyroid, and if you toast and crumble seaweed and add it to pots of beans and grains, it improves the digestability and nutritional value.

There are several local varieties that are edible, but Heidi considers nori (Porphyra perforata) the "Gateway" seaweed, as it's the mildest in sea flavor. Also, since it's only one cell thick, "It feels good in the mouth," as she put it.

Spas use seaweed as body, hair and face treatments. Soaking in the bath with some seaweed strands will ease aches, detoxify you and improve skin tone. Some spas even claim it boosts metabolism and reduces cellulite--but Heidi didn't say this, we read it somewhere. And it sounds like more fun than eating less.

Seaweed is also great in your garden. You soak the strands into a tea and pour it right on the soil, or mix it in with your compost. According to Heidi, "It boosts microbial activity, rendering plants more resistant to insect pests, fungus and diseases."

And while there are several commercial seaweed operations in Mendocino, Heidi is the lone forager on the Sonoma Coast. She claims that the Sonoma Coastline has a pristine seaweed "terroir".

Like all foraging, it is recommended you learn from an expert before heading out on your own. 

Heidi Herrmann's Guide to Local Seaweed Varieties

Nori (Porphyra perforata)

Only one cell thick! Particularly tasty when lightly toasted (150*F in oven 10 min.) then crumbled over food as a condiment. Highest in protein (30 percent by weight), iron, B6 and B12 content among the seaweeds. Packed in its natural crinkly splendor rather than heat processed, in oily MSG-laden sushi sheets.

Kombu (Laminaria dentigera)

Excellent added to beans, to soften and break down the tough fibers in beans increasing the digestibility, therefore reducing the 'gas effect'. Studies show that alginic acids in Kombu remove heavy metals and radiation from the GI/digestive tract.

Wakame (Alaria marginata)

Ten times the calcium in milk, four times the iron in beef. This olive-colored sea vegetable is rich in niacin, calcium, riboflavin and thiamine, and promotes healthy skin and hair. Great in beans and stews.

Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosis)

Regarded as the panacea by some herbal healers, known as 'the thyroid seaweed'. Fucus has been used to enhance the body's immune system, inhibit tumor cells, suppress allergic inflammation and strengthen body tissues.

Heidi Herrmann's Gingered Wakame Recipe

1 c. (2/3 oz.) wakame (or other)

3 med. cloves garlic, chopped

2 c. water

1 t. grated ginger

1 T. oil (olive, safflower, or toasted sesame)

1 heaping T. honey or rice syrup

1 T. soy sauce

Soak wakame in water for 10 minutes. Chop into ¼" strips. Set aside. Combine all other ingredients in a wok or frying pan and sauté for 2 minutes. Add wakame and simmer for 15-20 minutes, adding soak water as needed.