Sea moss is a superfood that is constantly growing in popularity among health activists and casual consumers alike. There are many benefits to consuming it and there are also many different ways in which you can have it. Sea moss, itself, can be quite unpleasant to eat for those that are not a big fan of how it tastes or feels. Thankfully, it can be turned into different forms such as a gel or a powder for easier consumption – allowing you to take advantage of all the different health benefits without dealing with the unpleasantries of how it tastes. Let’s get into the different types of sea moss and different ways to intake it!
Table of Contents
- What Is Sea Moss?
- The Different Types Of Sea Moss
- Sea Moss Benefits
- FAQs On Different Types Of Sea Moss
What Is Sea Moss?
Sea moss is a healthy natural ingredient that can be consumed in many ways for a plethora of health benefits. These benefits include promoting weight loss, to helping with gut health. Sea moss also has a lot of important nutrients such as iodine and taurine.
Sea moss, itself, grows in abundance around the Atlantic coastline in Europe and can also be found in North America. It is a naturally occurring vegetation that can be consumed raw if chosen to be. However, this is not very commonly chosen as it can be a bit of an unpleasant experience.
Sea moss, as discussed, is somewhat of a superfood as it is so high in nutrients and health benefits. Because of this, people want to find easier and more efficient ways to consume it without it seeming out of place for their dietary habits.
The Different Types Of Sea Moss
When looking at sea moss as a whole, there are many varying types of food that can confuse you. I have broken it down into 3 main categories that explain why the sea moss differs.
Obviously, if there are 3 categories it does not mean they are exclusive to each other. There are many different combinations of these differences that can appear in products you try to buy online.
To explain it more clearly – the colors, forms, and harvesting methods can all be combined with one another. This means that when you buy some sea moss online you are very likely to find a difference in all of the products. This is exactly why knowing and understanding what each difference is, is so crucial to you if you are wanting to consume more sea moss in day-to-day life.
Different Colors Of Sea Moss
There are many different sea moss species that can be found in the wild. All of them have different benefits and special compounds that bolster their nutritional value.
While you might think a change in color for Irish sea moss is not a big deal, you would be wrong. With each change in color, the ingredients in the sea moss are also changed as the most prominent nutrients differ between each color.
Gold Sea Moss
The gold variety of sea moss gets its unique color from the phytonutrients that it is rich in. They are a really important compound as they aid the sea moss in cellular communication. Without boring you with the science and biology behind this, there is more of this cellular communicative phytonutrient in this golden variety than there is in the other two types of moss.
Other than the golden color, this sea moss is also quite different in structure. It will regularly appear stringier than the others while also being thinner. Golden sea moss also grows all year round. This makes it readily available to a lot of farmers. This is why it is also the cheapest out of all the sea moss varieties.
Golden sea moss will also have a much more tolerable/less-pungent smell and flavor than the other types. It can safely be sun-dried without losing any of its nutrients. This milder smell makes it a great choice for people who are not a big fan of how the other varieties smell.
Purple Sea Moss
Purple sea moss is very commonly also called Irish sea moss.
The reason for its color is thanks to the abundance of antioxidants within the plant. They are so much that they have changed color. These antioxidants are essential for aiding the plant in eliminating any free radicals that may become present.
Unlike gold sea moss, the Jamaican purple sea moss variety is not available for all of the year. It is instead more available during the summer months. This can lead to the plant being more difficult to find. Not only is it time-limited, also prefers to grow on rocks.
Furthering the rarity of the purple plant, the growing process is a lot harder to imitate. This means it can be quite difficult to duplicate at home. This type of moss that is farmed and cultivated in a makeshift environment is called pool-grown. It is almost always a cheaper price than authentic sea moss.
Because it is almost impossible to properly duplicate – people do not have to worry about paying for an authentic shipment of purple sea moss. They end up getting scammed into buying pool-grown sea moss instead.
Green Sea Moss
Green sea moss is the smelliest of the bunch and is abundant in flavonoids such as anthocyanins and chlorophyll. These flavonoids help our bodies with liver functions and detoxifications. They also help to increase the amount of hemoglobin in our blood.
Green sea moss is wildcrafted and can be harvested mostly along the coasts of the Caribbean and nearby areas. Because of where it is grown, it smells and tastes a lot stronger as it is closer to the sea. The other types of sea moss can grow in connected lakes and bodies of water.
Furthering the strong taste, it is also suspected that it remains bold as it initially is because green moss undergoes less cleaning and drying in order to try and retain the bold green color.
Different Forms Of Sea Moss
When being harvested and sold – you will see sea moss in different forms. Like all superfoods that grow in popularity, sea moss has undergone the testing required to find new and exciting ways to add it to your diet that are more suitable and fitting to your lifestyle, affordability, and personal preferences for flavors and smells.
If you do not mind the taste or smell, then eating raw sea moss is fine. However, if you want an easier way to consume the sea moss without tasting it or smelling it, such as throwing it into a coffee, then the dried, powdered, and gel forms are definitely more suited to you.
Sea Moss Gel
Sea moss gel is one of the many different forms and variations that sea moss can be turned into for personal consumption.
In its gel form, you can work with it in many ways. Gelled sea moss allows you to simply introduce some of the gel into a meal, recipe, or drink. That is, assuming that it is soluble or the gel is in a hot enough environment to melt and dissolve. You can even consume sea moss gel alongside a drink or meal.
It can be quite easy to make your own sea moss gel yet the steps can be quite complicated if you do not own the right equipment. Thankfully buying sea moss gel is not so expensive that it becomes a burden that is also a necessity because of financial restrictions.
Sea Moss Powder
Ingredients can regularly be turned into a powdered alternative to help with adding them to meals and being incorporated easier than they standardly would. Sea moss is no different in this regard.
For anyone who wants to consume sea moss without experiencing the unpleasant texture or taste, a powdered version is a much more suitable purchase. The texture is completely changed and both the flavor and scent are much milder than they initially are.
When powdered, not only do the properties of the sea moss change, but the uses for it change as well. There are now new ways to use sea moss which are exclusive to the powdered version and how it works.
This is easily compared to protein powder and similar ingredients. They have been powdered to help increase your consumption by being able to add the powder to a lot of different meals and recipes. Sea moss powder is just like this. You can add the powder to a wide range of meals which can help you reap all the rewards of sea moss without having to deal with the taste or smell.
The powder is exceptionally good at being easily dissolvable in liquids which can open the doors for opportunities such as making a Jamaican moss drink as well as adding your dried sea moss powder to coffee or tea.
If you are not in the mood to add this ingredient to a drink, it can also be added to batters and dough as well, helping bolster and improve their nutrients.
Dried Sea Moss
Dried sea moss is a quite commonly sold version of this product. It is a lot easier for people to enjoy eating.
After being dried, sea moss will retain its nutrients. Yet the flavor, smell, and color will all be changed. Depending on the dehydrating method, this can change in severity/effectiveness.
Dried sea moss has many uses, such as being turned into a powder. But it is mostly consumed as it is. When it is dry it can be quite an easy snack to have and can be eaten as easily as you would eat beef jerky or something similar. The texture might be slightly dry or chewy, yet if you are not a fan of raw sea moss then this is a big improvement. It can really help you consume the brilliant health effects and nutrients without it being an unpleasant experience.
Raw Sea Moss
As mentioned, sea moss can come in many different forms that either make consumption more efficient, more tolerable, or more enjoyable.
Out of all of these forms, raw sea moss is the most natural and untampered version available. If you buy this online or in a shop, it is very likely that the most work or tampering involved is simply just cleaning.
While it may not be liked by everyone, there is still a large market for raw sea moss. So many companies don’t immediately process it after harvesting, as this would remove all raw supply of this product.
Different Raw Types Of Sea Moss
Wildcrafted Sea Moss
There are three main types of sea moss that you can buy online when you are shopping for raw sea moss that is fresh and unprocessed. These are Wildcrafted, pool-grown, and farmed. Each of these three methods has its own pros and cons and can vary in price. Duplicated, pool-grown, sea moss is going to be cheaper. After all, it is cheaper for a company to grow and farm. Meanwhile, wildcrafted moss will be quite expensive as it is much more authentic.
Wildcrafted sea moss is the real deal, the genuine stuff that you will find out in the wild just waiting to be picked. This is considered the prime choice of sea moss as it is naturally occurring and untampered. It is found on a lot of beaches and shorelines either at the bottom of the water or on rocks.
Wildcrafted moss is untouched by any efficient farming methods or any additional chemicals and is as natural as it can possibly be.
Farmed Sea Moss
Farmed sea moss is exactly what it sounds like. Just like Wildcrafted sea moss – it is 100% authentic and is not ruined by chemicals. However, it is tainted slightly by humans as it has been specifically placed in that area and has received help in growing and staying alive. Farmers will plant the sea moss in more efficient areas that are also easier to travel to and explore. It is essentially just taking wildcrafted sea moss and changing where it grows. There is not a huge difference although it does lose the title of being ‘100% authentic/natural’ and the nutrients inside the plant will also change slightly.
Pool-Grown Sea Moss
Pool-grown sea moss is the third and final type of sea moss that you can buy. It is either loved or hated for many different reasons.
Pool-grown sea moss is loved by companies as it can be duplicated and grown in very controlled environments. This can lead to an efficient yield and quick growth. However, it is disliked by the consumer as it is not natural and does not contain as many nutrients as the wildcrafted alternatives.
Basically, pool-grown sea moss is biologically engineered sea moss that has been grown in a pool or a tank with nutrients and chemicals being pumped into the water. It is very controlled and everything has been measured – for better or for worse.
Sea Moss Benefits
In terms of nutrients, sea moss is very high in compounds such as taurine and iodine. These are brilliant for aiding in muscle recovery and a healthy thyroid respectively.
Iodine is typically found in a lot of dairy products and seafood. Some people who don’t consume these can sometimes not have enough iodine in their diet. Sea moss can answer their needs for more.
Taurine is loved as it helps repair our muscles after a workout. When working out, you get micro-tears in muscles that need to be repaired. This is how our muscles get stronger as they are rebuilt better than before. Taurine is incredibly helpful for this. Luckily, there is an abundance of it in sea moss.
Alongside the rarer compounds, sea moss also contains a lot of rather common compounds. These are still very healthy and can aid you in day-to-day life and health. These other ingredients can help with boosting your immunity, improve and support your gut health, and also promoting weight loss.
FAQs On Different Types Of Sea Moss
What is the healthiest sea moss to take?
Choosing the healthiest sea moss to consume can be quite difficult. This is mostly thanks to how all of them are really healthy with the only different factor in terms of nutrients being one or two compounds that change. Green sea moss has a lot of chlorophyll in it, purple sea moss has lots of antioxidants in it, and golden sea moss has a lot of phytonutrients in it. Which type you decide to buy and eat is completely up to you.
Which is better, Jamaican sea moss or Irish sea moss?
Jamaican sea moss and Irish sea moss are both very healthy but neither one is considered that much better than the other. It is mostly down to one or two nutrients that are prominent in them. Other than this, it is worth taking into account that Irish sea moss does not grow all year round and can be rather expensive in its off-times of the year.
What color should sea moss be?
Sea moss should be one of three colors; purple, green, and gold. The changes in colors are to do with the environments in which the sea moss grows. Alongside this, the colors show that there is an abundance of different nutrients in each product, each color being a result of a nutrient that the other colors do not possess.
