Irish Moss, An Introduction.

Irish Moss (Chrondrus crispus) is a seaweed that can be boiled to turn it into a thickener or soaked and blended to be used raw.

Mineral and vitamin rich, irish moss is a great source of vitamin D and B12. It also has a soothing effect on mucuous membranes in the body and has been used to treat respiratory and digestive problems. It's Iodine content helps support thyroid health and can aid weight loss. Used externally Irish moss can soften and plump up the skin, and can also be used to ease sunburn, rashes, psoriasis and eczema. In fact, we first bought it to help L with her dry skin patches and it was only after reading the Sunny Raw Kitchen that we decided to venture into the land of Irish moss based raw desserts.

In case you were interested in the effects of topical application on dry skin patches it worked really well.

If you're interested in some Irish moss tips then click here. It's tricky, but if you follow those instructions then it will work! The blending process does take a while though, so don't be disheartened! This weekend we made these desserts using Irish Moss (we tweaked the persimmon shortcake recipe and incorporated Irish Moss into the cream!):

Left-Right: Persimmon shortcake from Carmella's Delightfully Raw Ebook, Cafe Gratitude's Chocolate Hazelnut mousse pie, Cafe Gratitude's Coconut Cream Pie.

Taste: When done properly, you can't taste the Irish moss, it just gives the dish a lighter texture. It's also caused our tummies no troubles. Which is another bonus :)

We buy our Irish Moss in 500g bags from Raw Living for £14.75 (+p&p, EU and US delivery available), for those of you in the U.S Cafe Gratitude stock it in 8 oz. bags for $12 (+ p&p) and One Lucky Duck stock it in 2 oz. bags for $11.50 (+ p&p).