When I first started this blog I promised moss facts, poems, arts and craft but no recipes and no cookbook. I don’t yet know why moss isn’t edible and isn’t eaten, however to the best of my knowledge it isn’t eaten by animals or humans.
I consulted the book Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Botanist and Native American Robin Wall Kimmerer (Oregon State University Press, 2003) on this matter. In the book Kimmerer says moss is used by birds as a nesting material and animals use it as bedding, however she doesn’t know of any animals eating moss except for bears prior to hiberation. In the story it says bears eat large quantities of moss just before they hibernate and the theory is that it “plugs” them up for the winter.
Just telling you what I read.
My brother and his girlfriend had just moved their horses to a new field that is covered in moss. I think that the horses were eating it despite having hay in the pasture. I will have to take a picture of the moss as I don’t know what kind it was. The moss in that pasture is probably a foot thick and beautiful. I also saw a tv show where a Canadian chef was boiling and eating a moss that is light green and very hard to the touch. The name escapes me though. I am currently growing some that I found in upstate NY and would be glad to send pictures if you are interested!
Hi Kim,
Certainly send photos of the moss you are growing or post them at iheartmoss.com on Facebook.
I did a little more research about the TV cooking show to find out if they were cooking moss. Turns out there is a red algae whose common name is Irish Moss or Carrageen Moss which is used in cooking lots of products and popular in the raw food movement. It’s latin name is Chondrus crispus and you can read about it on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondrus_crispus or see it on YouTube. It’s sold dry and it is hard to the touch in that form. One soaks it, runs it through a heavy duty blender and then boils it. After boiling it turns into a jelly. That jelly shows up as a thickener in many foods we eat such as ice cream and processed foods where it is listed as carrageenan on the ingredients label.