Abstract
The brown alga Chorda filum (L. ) Lam., called tsuru-mo in Japanese, is harvested and consumed in only a few towns along the coast of the Japan Sea. In Sado, (Niigata), and Wajima, (Ishikawa), in Japan, the alga is dried under the sun and stored for 1 year before being sold in retail shops. The dried product of Chorda filum is washed and rubbed well with plenty of water five to ten times before cooking. We analyzed the water-soluble components in both the dried and water-washed products. The amounts of ash (58.4 to 16.2g/100g of dry matter), fucoidan (10.1 to 1.3), Na (6.83 to 1.28), K (18.0 to 1.44), and Mg (2.22 to 1.26) in the dried product were decreased by washing, and these might have been eluted in the water. However, carbohydrates (32.7 to 75.8), alginic acid (2.0 to 34.7), and Ca (2.31 to 3.16) each showed an increased contents on the dry basis after washing with water.
