Facts about S. latissima

Yellow brown, to 3 m in length with a claw-like holdfast, a small, smooth, flexible stipe, and an undivided laminate blade to 3 m long with parallel, ruffled sides and an elongated, tongue-like appearance. The frond is characteristically dimpled with regular bullations (depressions).

Saccharina latissima is a cold-water seaweed, found in arctic waters surrounding the North Pole, down through the Baltic Sea, around northern Europe and the British Isles, Greenland, Iceland, and on the North American coasts from Alaska through California and through Canada as far south as New Jersey.

Saccharina latissima is largely regarded as one of the most delicious of the edible seaweeds because of its sweet flavor and naturally occurring monosodium glutamate. This is one of the varieties of kelp harvested and sold in Japan as "kombu," and this species in particular is sometimes referred to as "kombu royale" because of its superior sweetness and flavor.

Being high in trace minerals and nutrients such as iodine, bromine, nitrogen, vitamins K, B12, and others, Saccharina latissima extracts have also been used in cosmetic products such as anti-aging sun creams, eye cream, shampoos and conditioners. Alginate compounds extracted from kelp such as this are also used as thickening agents in products such as ice cream and toothpaste.