Wild Food Guide — 'Y'

Welcome to the Celtnet guide to wild foods. As this recipe site has grown it has become obvious that to allow people to replicate some of the more ancient recipes on this site (especially from the Ancient, Roman and Medieval periods it is necessary to list modern alternatives but also to produce a guide so that the curious can find the original (often wild) ingredients for themselves. These pages are an attempt at bringing all these potentially useful and often forgotten wild foods together into one place. To use this guide simply click on the first letter of your term above or below. Alternativey why not just browse through the terms. You may well find something that surprises you!

This page covers wild foods beginning with the letter 'Y' and includes both common and scientific names.

This is the description page for Serrated Wrack (Fucus serratus) and includes a description as well as an image, if available and a selection of recipes from this site that relates to the wild foodstuff: Serrated Wrack.

Serrated Wrack, Fucus serratus (also known as toothed wrack and saw wrack) is a large brown alga (and a member of the Fucaceae family [bladderwrack]) that is typically olive brown in colour. It grows grows profusely in a wide variety of situations from exposed rocky shores to saline lagoons all along the Atlantic coast of Europe (the range extends from the Canary Islands and Portugal up to the Island of Svalbard). Most common, however, it is found on sheltered rocky substrata subject to some degree of disturbance such as from tidal scour. Though technically a brown alga it can vary in colour from olive green through reddish brown (though typically it always has a greenish tint). The fronds are typically 2cm wide, bifurcating and up to 1m long with a short stype. It attaches to rocks via a discoid holdfast about 3cm in diameter. Typically it grows gregariously, forming dense mats of long ribbons up to 1m long and 5cm across. Down the centre of each ribbon is a distinct midrib (but unlike many other wracks it does not have air vesicles), however, this is the only wrack to have a toothed or serrated margin to the fronds and can easily be distinguished because of this.

This seaweed is not commonly used as a food, though it is harvested for cosmetics in Ireland and France and it is harvested to make liquid fertilizer in the Western Iles of Scotland. However, its edible properties are very similar to that of bladderwrack and interest in this plant is gorwing, as, being a thyroid stimulant it might could counter obesity by increasing the metabolic rate. It is also known to help women with abnormal menstrual cycling patterns and/or menstrual-related disease histories. Typically it is stored dried and makes a very nutritious tea as well as being used in soups (particularly Japanese-style noodle soups) and can be added to any soup or stew as a flavouring. Indeed, it is added as a flavouring to a number of European food products. Toothed Wrack can also be rendered as a powder and used as a flavouring additive to soups and stews.

Due to the toothed nature of the frond margins of this alga there are no species that it can easily be confused with.

Serrated Wrack Tea
Dried Serrated Wrack
Seaweed Relish
Okra with Seaweed Paste
Buttered Serrated Wrack
Crisp-fried Serrated Wrack
Gurnard Fillets Steamed on a Bed of Wrack