Help & FAQ

We pack and dispatch orders from Lofoten within two working days — usually the same or next day. How long the journey itself takes depends on where in the world you are. The delivery estimate shown is calculated from how long shipments to your area have taken in the past, which means the actual time can vary with a few days.

Orders to the EU are sent from our warehouse in Sweden, so they usually arrive sooner than the distance from Lofoten suggests — a few days to a week.

You will get an email with a tracking number when processed by the carrier. Follow it on the carrier's own site for the most current status.

Usually not. Tracking for parcels leaving Norway can sit still for several days before the carrier updates it, but a quiet tracking page does not mean a stationary parcel. If nothing has moved for more than a week, write to us and we will chase the carrier.

Contact us at post@lofotenseaweed.com, and we'll investigate with the shipment provider. The most common issue is packages lost in their transit, in which case we will of course offer you a new shipment for no extra charge.

Email us with your order number and, if you can, a photo of what arrived. We will send the missing item or refund it, whichever you prefer. You do not need to return anything first.

If you catch us before the parcel leaves, yes. Email us with your order number as soon as you notice. Once it has been handed to the carrier we can rarely redirect it.

Until it has been dispatched, yes, and without any reason. After dispatch it becomes a return.

PostNord parcel lockers need the PostNord app to open them. Without it the parcel cannot be collected and will be returned to us, so install it before your collection window closes.

We ship to Norway, the EU, the UK and Switzerland, the United States and Canada, and much of Asia, Oceania and South America. If your country appears at checkout, we ship there. If it doesn't, contact us at sales@lofotenseaweed.com, and we'll help you book a shipment manually.

That depends where you are — but in most cases the answer is no.

• Norway. Sent from Lofoten within Norway, so no import fees arise.
• The EU. Fulfilled from our warehouse in Sweden, so your order never crosses a customs border. Nothing to pay.
• The United States and Canada. Import duties and fees are calculated and charged at checkout, and we pay them in advance on your behalf. There's nothing to pay when the parcel arrives.
• Everywhere else. Your own country's import rules apply, and any duty is collected on delivery.

Yes. You have 30 days from receiving your order to ask for a return on eligible items, under our own voluntary policy. Return postage is yours to pay on these. If you are in the EEA you also have the statutory right to withdraw within 14 days of receiving the goods, without giving a reason. The full refund policy has the detail.

Once we have received and checked the returned item, we refund to your original payment method within 10 working days. Your bank or card provider may take a few days more to show it.

Do not send it back yet. Email us with your order number and a photo. Faulty, damaged and incorrect goods follow a separate route from an ordinary return, and you are not out of pocket for postage on those.

[Needs your answer — the refund policy covers returns and refunds but says nothing about exchanges.]

Same as damaged: photo, order number, email. We will replace it.

Start with a salt or a seasoning blend. They behave exactly like the seasonings already in your kitchen — a pinch on eggs, on bread, over roast vegetables — so there is nothing new to learn. Use Arctic Ocean Greens if you want the seaweed flavour on its own. Whole leaves last a long time, once you are curious rather than cautious.

Less than you think, then more next time. A pinch of a salt or blend seasons a dish the way ordinary salt would. Whole leaves and flakes vary a lot by species, so the quantity is on each product's own page.

Salts, blends and flakes, yes. Also whole leaf Nori or Dulse. Other whole leaves are better soaked or cooked first - some of them, kombu and sugar kelp in particular, we recommend blanching, which cuts their iodine content substantially.

It depends on the leaf, and the times differ enough to matter: wakame wants about 30 minutes, sugar kelp an overnight soak, channelled wrack a 20 to 30 minute boil, and tangle kelp is really for broth rather than eating. Each product page says which.

Milder than most people expect, and savoury rather than fishy; the taste people mean when they say umami. Reviewers have been surprised in both directions, so the honest answer is that the salts and blends are gentle and the whole leaves are more assertive.

Yes, and people do exactly that - many customers use it to cut down on ordinary salt. The seaweed salt blends do still contain salt; Arctic Ocean Greens is pure seaweed and is the one to reach for if you are reducing sodium.

Dried seaweed keeps best sealed, dry, and out of direct sun. Algae Pearls are the exception and need refrigerating once opened; store no more than ten days.

[Needs your answer — no shelf life is recorded against any food product in the store, so I have left this blank rather than invent one.]

On the Recipes page, filtered by the product in your cupboard — around 95 recipes, from weekday dinners to baking and drinks.

It depends on the product, so please read the label on the one you are buying. Many contain nothing but seaweed, or seaweed and salt. Some seasoning blends contain more: Arctic Furikake contains sesame, wheat and soy, and may contain traces of lactose. Several of our wild-harvested seaweeds may contain traces of shellfish, because they grow where shellfish live. Our liquid skincare contains the fragrance allergens citral, geraniol, linalool and limonene.

Most are, but not all, and the exceptions matter. Arctic Furikake contains lactose and wheat. Lofoten Umami contains stockfish. Seaweed Tagliatelle contains durum wheat and egg. The white Seaweed Chocolate contains milk. Check the product you want rather than assuming the range is uniform.

Seaweed concentrates iodine from seawater, which is why it is one of the richest natural sources there is. How much depends entirely on the species, so it differs sharply between our products — per 100 g:

• Arctic Ocean Greens — 38.35 mg
• Smoked Seaweed Flakes — 38 mg
• Seaweed for Bread — 38 mg
• Ocean Truffle Salt — 30 mg
• Lofoten Umami — 29.78 mg
• Arctic Furikake — 19 mg
• Arctic Seaweed Salt — 8.4 mg
• Smoked Seaweed Salt — 4.94 mg
• Seaweed Tagliatelle — 1.14 mg

The recommended daily intake is 0.15 mg and the upper daily limit 0.6 mg, so a little goes a long way. The figure for each product is on its packaging and its product page.

Seaweed is naturally rich in iodine, and iodine affects thyroid function. If you have a thyroid condition, take iodine supplements, or have been told to watch your iodine intake, please talk to your doctor before adding seaweed to your diet. The iodine content of every food product is on its label.

[Needs your decision — this is the one answer I would not draft for you. Both turn on how cautious you want to be, and neither is recorded anywhere.]

Under Ingredients and info on each product page. [Note for you: a panel exists for 15 of 34 products — eight food products have none, so this answer currently promises something they cannot deliver.]

No - that is supposed to be there. It is sea salt and natural sugars crystallising out as the seaweed dries, and on some species it is taken as a mark of quality. It is not mould. Brush it off or leave it; either way the seaweed is fine.

Every leaf is hand-cut in the waters around Lofoten, in the tidal flow of Nappstraumen, and dried here. A couple of products are then finished by specialists elsewhere — the Algae Pearls are spherified in Spain and the Tagliatelle is made in Italy — but the seaweed inside them is ours, from the same water.

We have shops in Napp and in Henningsvær. [Needs your current hours and season dates.]

[Needs your wording — it is partner-operated, but how do you prefer to put it?]

Yes, and it is a lovely way to get to know a coastline — but what you pick, where, and how matters. We wrote a beginner's guide covering identification, harvesting without damaging the plant, drying and a few recipes.

Yes to both — our trade and HoReCa portal has the catalogue and price list, or write to sales@lofotenseaweed.com.