Limu and Ogo
At one time there were over 70 varieties of seaweed and fresh water algae being careful foraged and eaten in Hawaii. They were eaten raw, added to dishes and cooked, for culinary purposes and/or medicinal. After decades of loss of streams due to development and agriculture, pollution, climate change, invasive species and over picking – there are committed efforts to restore limu stock. Here are links to help support a few of the active programs:
Lana‘i Limu Restoration Project
There are several aquaculture programs and business that are producing edible seaweeds.
Paepae o He’eia sells Gorilla Ogo – help eat the invasive species, it’s the ogo commonly used in contemporary poke dishes!
Dr. Wenhao Sun of Marine Agrifuture has been developing his aquaculture farm in Kahuku since 2005 is now famous for the very green and succulent Sea Asparagus (which isn’t a seaweed!) as well as his fat robusta ogo and thin Red ogo.
Prepping and Eating Tips
– Species and dish will determine of limu is to be eaten raw or cooked.
– With most of the limu on the market today, especially the kind to be used to add to poke, salad or to make pickled onion – you need to wash out thoroughly in colander with cool water, blanch in boiling water for about a minute, and plunge into icy bath or run briefly under cold water to stop the cooking process. Chop and add to salad, poke or pickled onion.
– Limu is a realm of it own — each kind has their own way of being eaten. Feel free to learn more and to support restoration efforts too!
Selecting and Storing Tips
When limu or ogo has been stored for too long it loses its cellular structure and gets gel-like, liquid will collect in the bottom of the bag. Store in air tight package, in refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Historical Morsel
Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona Abbot was the first native Hawaiian woman to receive a PhD in science and she was for a long time the leading expert on Pacific algae. An ethnobotanist and educator, she authored eight books, over 150 publications, and is credited with scientific discovery of over 200 species of algae. Born in Hana and raised in Honolulu she credited her mother for teaching her all about the test cypionate culinary and medicinal properties of seaweeds. Over her long career, extending along the coast of California and Hawaii, she garnered as a nickname “the first lady of limu.” Though most of her publications were on sea plants, she also wrote a valuable book titled “La’au Hawaii: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants” documenting the centuries long use in Hawaii of plants (land and sea) for healing of physical, emotional and spiritual ailments.