Sea moss (a.k.a Irish moss) is not something that you'll find in the typical American diet. But if you're of Jamaican or of Irish descent, there's a chance you've at least heard of it.

I'm first-generation Jamaican, and growing up, I was only exposed to sea moss in the form of a sugary beverage. When my family went out to a local restaurant to eat curry goat or jerk chicken, I would pick it out from the fridge in it's non-branded, homemade bottle. The sweet, creamy mixture of condensed milk, moss, vanilla, and nutmeg was a real treat after some spicy delights. But as tasty as this drink was, I knew it wasn't really healthy. So as a kid, I never thought that pure Irish moss had any beneficial properties on it's own. That is until I did some reading....

Sea moss is a type of red algae that grows on the Atlantic coastlines of North America, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. Since the 1800s, the Irish have been harvesting it from their rocky shores to use as medicine. They even used it to get the nutrients they needed during times of famine. Jamaicans have also traditionally used sea moss to treat illness, and some have touted it to be the perfect elixir to increase male libido. Unfortunately, there's no scientific proof for the latter (sorry, guys), but there's a lot of research showing that our ancestors understood the healing potential of this plant.

While it's been embraced by Irish and Jamaican cultures, sea moss has been getting a bad rap lately. Carrageenan, a derivative of this seaweed, is a thickening agent that can be found in dairy and alt-milk products. This ingredient is said to cause inflammation and was labeled as "a possible human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. That's some scary news that has certainly discouraged many people from consuming this algae.