Kook bewust

Jan Kruijsse – De Zeeuwse Zeewierhandelaar

The fresh seaweeds of HANOS literally come from our own waters. They are harvested for you from the Oosterschelde National Park, a nature reserve with excellent water quality. Seaweed is seasonal. From January to June, for example, wakame, Japanese wireweed and serrated wrack are harvested. In summer, when the water gets warmer, other species appear. Then De Zeeuwse Zeewierhandel cuts sea lettuce, red horn seaweed and codium. See the current range here:

De Zeeuwse Zeewierhandel in Yerseke

The fresh seaweeds come from De Zeeuwse Zeewierhandel in Yerseke. Owner Jan Kruijsse used to be a cockle fisherman, then a razor clam fisherman until 2012. At a fish fair, he heard that many seaweeds are edible and decided to change course. In 2014, Jan Kruijsse was granted a licence to collect seaweed in the Oosterschelde.

Two years later came another milestone: the launch of the YE 132, a seaweed cutter. “With it, we can go out on the water to harvest seaweed at greater depths,” says Kruijsse. This is done with a seaweed trawl he developed himself. Fishing the seaweed with this trawl makes Kruijsse less dependent on the weather. The original method is to cut the seaweed from the exposed banks at low tide with a hand sickle. “But in bad weather, especially when it is very windy, the water is too high. Then I cannot harvest, so I cannot deliver. The cutter has largely solved that problem.”

Facts about seaweed

Seaweeds contain more minerals than any other plant on earth.
Wakame contains 10 times as much calcium as milk, and sea lettuce 25 times more iron than meat.
Seaweeds are extremely strong, but live for only one to two years.

Jan Kruijsse – De Zeeuwse Zeewierhandelaar

De Zeeuwse Zeewierhandel in Yerseke

Facts about seaweed

Discover all stories

De Zeeuwse Zeewierhandel in Yerseke

Facts about seaweed

Discover all stories