Carrageen: A local habitation or a name?

Abstract

In a discussion of the gelatinous properties of a far-eastern marine alga (Fucus tenax = Gloiopeltis tenax (Turner) J. Agardh), Dawson Turner (1809) commented on the occurrence in Britain of similarly constituted species : “There are, indeed, few of the submersed Algae that are not possessed of some degree of viscidity, and many of our British Fuci will in great measure, if not entirely, melt, when boiled in water over a quick fire. Such is particularly the case with F. ciliutus (Culliblepharis ciliutu (Hudson) Kiitzing) and F. crispus (Chondrus crispus Stackhouse), both which, on cooling, form into a gelatine resembling glue in appearance.. . ” When he came to discuss Chondrus crispus in detail, Turner (1819) observed that this species will “ . . .melt on boiling and afterwards harden into a gelatine, which I do not despair of seeing hereafter employed to useful purposes, though I have hitherto failed in my efforts to render it of service”. On October 22,1829 the following advertisement appeared in the Dublin Saunders’ News-Letter and Daily Advertiser: “Carrageen, or Irish Moss. Messrs. Butler having purchased a large quantity of the Carrageen or Irish Moss so much appreciated and recommended as a Dietetic Remedy for Invalids and as a substitute for Isinglas in making Blamonge, Jellies c one can now only speculate as to the existence of a link between Turner’s observations and the first commercial exploitation of Chondrus crispus. Clearly, however, the word carrageen had gained a certain currency in Ireland by 1829, though the notice cited above records the earliest example of its use which we have found. Jonathan Pereira (1840) proposed a name for the substance obtained from Chondrus crispus: “The mucilaginous matter (called by some writers vegetable jelly, by others pectin,) appears to me to be a peculiar substance, which I shall term carrugeenin.” This is now spelled carrageenan and the substance it represents is of such importance as an emulsifier and a stabiliser in the food and other industries that the origin of the word from which it was coined