Publications

Agar and carrageenan are the main seaweed alternatives to gelatin. How they differ, where each works in plant-based food, and what that means for sourcing.

Rain rarely stops seaweed growing, but it can stop seaweed drying. How the wet season affects quality and supply, and how buyers can plan around it.

Agar (E406) is extracted from red seaweeds such as Gracilaria and Gelidium. How it is made, where it is used and what processors need from raw seaweed.

What to see, whom to meet, which documents to request and which red flags to watch for when visiting a seaweed cooperative in Sulawesi.

Farmed seaweed grows without feed, fertiliser, freshwater or farmland. Why that matters, and the caveats any honest sustainability claim should include.

Village collectors finance, transport and aggregate much of Indonesia’s seaweed. What they do, where value leaks and how organised groups change it.

The defects that cost dried seaweed its value — salt, sand, foreign matter, mould and more — where each comes from and how it is prevented and checked.

Why kappa carrageenan works so well with milk proteins, and what it does in chocolate milk, ice cream, cream and dairy desserts.

Deposits, letters of credit and cash against documents shift risk between buyer and seller in different ways. A plain guide for the dried seaweed trade.

Why seaweed became a mainstay for coastal families in South Sulawesi — short cycles, low capital, family labour — and the pressures that still weigh on it.

Alginate comes from brown seaweeds, not the red ones behind carrageenan. What it is, the E401–E405 family, and the quality questions around Sargassum.

Sacks or pressed bales, container checks, moisture protection, photos and seals: the loading-day details that decide how dried seaweed arrives.

A line-by-line guide to the parameters on a dried seaweed specification — moisture, impurities, salt, CAW and gel strength — and how to negotiate them.

A farmer is paid for what the scale says. Why weighing disputes happen in the seaweed trade, and how calibrated scales and written records build trust.

Seaweed reaches cosmetics in two forms: purified hydrocolloids that give texture, and extracts sold for skin care. What each is and what buyers should ask.

Invoice, packing list, bill of lading, origin and health certificates, COA: what each export document does and how seaweed buyers should check them.

Ice-ice whitens and softens farmed Kappaphycus, and outbreaks follow stressful conditions. How to recognise it, what drives it and how farms reduce losses.

A lab result is only as good as the sample behind it. Why seaweed sampling goes wrong and a step-by-step method for drawing, splitting and sealing samples.

Farmed seaweed is grown from cuttings, so weak or diseased planting material carries into every harvest. How seedlings are chosen and kept healthy.

Semi-refined and refined carrageenan are made in different ways, so they ask different things of dried seaweed. What each route needs from suppliers.