Herbal Health Information on Kelp/Bladderwrack

I use this such a lot, but the smell still makes me shudder. It is a sea weed which is quite distinctive to look at being long and flat shiny and leathery to touch. Air vesicles in the plant look like nodules and sometimes it has little waves in it as if someone has taken curling tongs to it.

Kelp was used as manure and in fact I saw a man collecting large bags of it on the beach today which I assumed he was going to use as a fertiliser.

Kelp is high in iodine and other minerals, so is used to treat under active thyroid and boost the metabolism.

I use it  as a tincture in all mixtures to boost metabolism and just as a general tonic because it also has alterative properties (returning to normal).

Normally I tell people to put their dose of tincture in a little water and swallow it down quickly, but because of the taste and smell I do allow people to put kelp into some apple juice if they really don’t like the taste.

Linda Bostock

Medical Herbalist/Herbal Health Information