EDIBLE SEAWEEDS 83 



The Japanese Edible ALGiE Industry 



Although algae grow wild along the great extent 

 of the Japanese coast, the cultivation of the more 

 valuable species is a profitable industry. Red laver 

 or porphyra is extensively cultivated in Tokio Bay 

 and in many other sheltered coastal waters. 



The methods of cultivating seaweeds are quite 

 different from those used in agriculture. In aqui- 

 culture the farmer does not sow seeds or cuttings 

 but fixes in the bottom in sheltered areas of shallow 

 water bundles of bamboo poles or brush on which 

 the spores of porphyra are caught and supported 

 while they grow. The bundles of brush are planted 

 in October and November in regular lines of deep 

 holes in the muddy bottom. The porphyra spores 

 which lodge on the brush grow rapidly, and in a 

 few months the laver is ready to harvest. 



Some porphyra or amanori, as the Japanese call 

 it, is eaten fresh, but most of the crop is preserved 

 by drying in the sun. Preparatory to drying, it is 

 carefully washed in fresh water, finely chopped with 

 knives, and then placed on small mats made of fine 

 bamboo splints. After the chopped algae have been 

 pressed into thin sheets, the mats are placed on in- 

 clined frames in the open air, where the sheets are 

 completely dried. The dried sheets of amanori are 

 stripped from the mats, pressed flat, and packed for 

 market in bundles of ten. The sheets of amanori are 

 thin and flexible, like writing-paper, having a glossy 

 surface and a mottled brownish color. Amanori is 

 prepared for the table by baking it until it becomes 



