Jeannie Young, age 14, of Garden Grove, California, for her question:

What is carragheen?

This word carries us over the sea to a place in Ireland called Carragheen. Here the nearby ocean is often choked with bunchy seaweed called carrageen. Its branches of soft foliage are shaped like frayed and feathery fronds. They are fat and slippery and stuffed with a gummy substance. The color of carrageen seaweed is a surprising dark purple. And the shores off Carragheen are not its only home. Various types of carrageen are found around many parts of Ireland, off northern Europe and even in the northern sea of North America.

Carrageen is one of the useful seaweeds. Masses of it are harvested, washed and dried in the sun. This dry, springy material is called Irish moss and some of it is used as a packaging material. The jellified gummy material in carrageen seaweed is called carrageenin. It has little nourishment, but when the seaweed is cooked, the carrageenfn forms a soupy broth. It is used to thicken all sorts of savory gravies, spicy sauces and sweet desserts.