| Copyright 2006 by The Haole Crab |
| Picking ogo |
 |
| To clean ogo, I've found the best thing to do is to fill a 5-gallon bucket with clean water, dump your bag of ogo into it, then carefully pull out the bunches, cleaning them as you go. Here is my favorite recipe for pickled ogo! SOS (Special Ogo Sauce) 1 pound cleaned ogo 1 cup shoyu (soy sauce, I prefer Aloha) 1 cup Japanese rice vinegar 1 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon ko choo jang (Korean chili paste) garlic to taste ginger to taste I like to lightly blanch the ogo first. I do this by putting the ogo into a strainer and pouring a pot of boiling water over it. The lighter the blanching, the better, as I like to keep the ogo fairly crunchy. I also don't cut my ogo into smaller pieces, since I think it is more fun to pull entire bunches out of the pickle jar to eat. After blanching, put the ogo into a suitable jar or container (either glass or stainless, as the ko choo jang will stain plastic). Put the shoyu, vinegar, and sugar into a mixing bowl and mix until all of the sugar is dissolved. Add the ko choo jang, and mix until dissolved. Pour the mixture into your container, making sure that the ogo is completely covered. Add diced garlic and ginger to taste. Let the ogo soak for a minimum of 24 hours, but it is best after soaking for one week. Home |
 |
 |
 |
| My cousin, Cheryl, cleaning ogo. |
| Ogo is an edible limu (seaweed) that is found in shallow water. It is usually pickled or used as an ingredient in dishes such as poke (cubed raw fish). Ogo is farmed, but the wild variety is prized as it has a more robust flavor and aroma. To pick ogo, you'll need a pair of scissors and a bag. It is against the law to remove the holdfast (the base of the seaweed, where it is attached to the bottom). Use your scissors to carefully snip off the plant, leaving the holdfast to regrow and produce another bunch. It is also illegal to take ogo that is in its reproductive cycle. Ogo that is reproducing can be identified by the presence of numberous round bumps (reproductive nodes) covering the normally smooth branches. Lastly, the bag limit on Maui is one pound. |
| Picking ogo is very peaceful, almost meditative, for me. You dive down, find a nice bunch (I look for ones that are a healthy red color and are not covered with rubbish), snip it off, and surface. I like to then float on the surface and pre-clean the bunch by removing other "rubbish" seaweeds. It's a real change of pace from hunting uluas or bluewater diving. |
| My son, Mikey, playing in front of my favorite ogo spot |
| The weapon of choice! |
| A nice, healthy bunch of wild ogo |