Porphyra, commonly know as nori, an important genus of the Rhodophytais. Nori is the most widely consumed seaweed in the world! Nori is commonly found in Asian food it has a very interesting heteromorphic life history, it has what you would want in a great tasting alga!
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Nori is also known in Chinese as haidai and in Korean as kim or gim.
Porphyra contains significant amounts of protein, vitamins and minerals. The vitamin C content of nori, or prepared Porphyra, is greater than in raw oranges. The vitamin A content is comparable to that spinach, along with fairly high amounts of vitamin B in general. The amount of free and proteinaceous amino acids in nori are roughly similar to that of vegetables. Porphyra also contains A high amount of the amino acid arginine is generally found in animal protein. In Nori, the characteristic taste is a result of the coexistence of relatively large amounts of the amino acids alanine, glutamic acid and glycine. Nori also contains a large amount of taurine known to be effective for liver activity, especially in preventing the occurence of gallstone disease and controlling blood cholesterol levels. Nori contains relatively high amounts of essential trace elements, such as zinc, which is essential for certain enzyme functions. Manganese, copper and selenium are all present and essential for the metabolic processes of organisms.
Porphyra does have a few medicinal benefits. It contains a sulfated polysaccharide called porphyran, which is a complex galactan. The physiological activity of porphyran in the animal body isn't clear right now, but studies have indicated some excellent health benefits from it. It may inhibit the growth of certain tumors. Also, when nori powder was mixed with a basic diet at 2% concentration and fed to rats, it preventd a purposely induced carcinogenesis. These results may be have been caused by the sulfation of the polysaccharide, which can enhance the effectiveness of it.
Another substance called porphyosin has been isolated from Porphyra. It appears to exhibit anti-ulcer activity in shay ulcers. porphyosin may be ineffective against stress ulcers
In Studies: Evidence suggests that chemicals from red algae may help fight viral infections (Richards et al. 1978), including herpes (Dieg et al. 1974) and HIV (Luescher-Mattli 2003).
History: Consumption of Porphyra dates back to 533-544 AD in China. It was even presented annually to the emperor of China during the Sung dynasty (960-1279 AD) as a gift from the Fuijan province. One reason for eating Porphyra is the lack of cellulose in the cell wall, making this algae easier for us to eat and digest. The discovery, in 1949, of the filamentous Conchocelis-phase in the life history of Porphyra umbilicalis by the British phycologist, Kathleen Drew, led to the seeding of ropes from artificially-cultivated Conchocelis-phases.
Technicals: The thallus is mostly elliptical. The fronds range in size from 15-36 cm in length, 22-30 cm width. The vegetative part of the frond, in the early stages, is ca. 25µm thick but becomes thicker, up to 40-53µm later in the growing season. Young fronds reproduce vegetatively by producing monospores. Sporangial and antheridial reproductive structures are formed. The thallus is "striped" at this stage. Ten to 14 days after germination, monospores are formed on the upper margins of the blades. Released monospores also attach to the nori nets and grow into new thalli.
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