The Differences Between Purple Sea Moss vs Gold & Green Sea Moss

Sea moss, scientifically known as Chondrus crispus, is a type of seaweed that grows on the Atlantic coasts. Recent discoveries about its extraordinary natural properties have made it one of the most popular products in the health and wellness market.

If you're one of the many sea moss users, you've probably found yourself in front of different types of sea moss. Depending on where it grows and what nutrients it contains, sea moss may have different colors and shades. The most common types of sea moss are gold, purple, and green but you may also run into red, black, yellow, or pink sea moss. 

So, what's the difference if your sea moss is gold, purple, or green? Should you use one instead of the other?

Why Does Sea Moss Have Different Colors? 

Sea moss naturally grows in a wide range of colors and shades. It’s totally normal to find purple, gold, green, black, red, brown, yellow, or even pink sea moss. The color is mostly influenced by the environment in which the algae has grown.

Sea moss’s color can also be a good indicator of whether it is real or fake. Fake sea moss (pool-grown sea moss) is often yellowish, off-white, or of a lighter shade of color than real sea moss (wildcrafted sea moss). 

All types of real sea moss contain the same minerals, vitamins, and nutrients and carry the same health benefits. But each color has its own specificities and offers unique additional benefits.

Just like with the fruits and vegetables we eat, color matters for sea moss. It indicates the presence and concentration of certain natural compounds, phytonutrients, nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. 

So, if you're taking sea moss for a specific purpose, choosing one color instead of the other can make a difference.

The most common varieties of wildcrafted sea moss are gold, purple, and green. Here's what you need to know about each one before choosing what sea moss color is best for you:

Related article: The complete list of sea moss minerals and vitamins

Gold Sea Moss

Gold sea moss is the most common type of sea moss. It may appear yellowish with different shades depending on where it has grown and the amount of each of its natural compounds. It is the only type of sea moss that is naturally sundried. 

One of the advantages of gold sea moss over the purple or green varieties is its minimal taste and smell. It's easy to add to your food and does not change your recipe's flavor too much.

Organics Nature's Raw Wildcrafted Organic Gold Sea Moss

Gold sea moss benefits:

Gold sea moss offers all the numerous health and beauty benefits of sea moss and is commonly used for purposes related to heart disease, diabetes, bad cholesterol, thyroid dysfunction, weight loss, gut health, immunity, energy, hair growth, skin problems, and many others.

Related article: How much sea moss can you take daily?

Purple Sea Moss

Purple sea moss is usually found in warmer waters. Its color comes from the high content of anthocyanins. These powerful antioxidants from the flavonoid family are the ones that give the blue or purple color to fruits and vegetables like currants, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, plums, red onions, etc. 

The color and shade of purple sea moss vary considerably according to the anthocyanins’ concentration. It may sometimes look red or pink.

Purple sea moss is less common than gold sea moss and might not always be easy to find. It requires delicate storage conditions and must be dried in a dark room to keep its color and benefits.

Purple sea moss benefits

Purple sea moss has the same health benefits as any other type of sea moss. However, due to its exceptionally high content of antioxidants and flavonoids, purple sea moss may be more efficient than gold sea moss or green sea moss for the following: 

• Reduce inflammation
• Promote heart health
• Help manage type 2 diabetes
• Protect against certain types of cancer
• Combat free radicals in the body

 Related article: What does sea moss taste like and how to make it taste better?

Green Sea Moss

Green sea moss is probably the rarer type of sea moss to find. It grows in shallower waters than gold or purple sea moss. 

Green sea moss takes its color from the larger amount of Chlorophyll it contains. Chlorophyll is what gives the plants their green color. Variations in chlorophyll content may cause green sea moss to look brown or even black sometimes.

In order to protect its color and benefits, green sea moss has to be dried in a dark room like purple sea moss.

Green sea moss benefits

Green sea moss offers the same general health benefits as gold sea moss and purple sea moss. But its higher amount of chlorophyll gives it some interesting particularities such as:

• Healing wounds and promoting skin health
• Detoxifying the body and cleaning the intestines
• Energizing and boosting energy levels
• Aiding in weight loss
• Controlling body odor
• Preventing some types of cancer 

What is Full-Spectrum Sea Moss?

Full spectrum sea moss, also known as multi-colored sea moss or tricolor sea moss, is a mix of gold, purple, and green sea moss together.

Whether you buy full-spectrum dried sea moss or full-spectrum sea moss gel, your product will contain all three types of sea moss in one. It's perfect for those who want to benefit from the maximum of the properties sea moss has to offer.

What is black sea moss? 

Black sea moss isn’t a type of sea moss but rather a variation of green sea moss or purple sea moss. Pure black sea moss is very rare, but you may find shades of black in your dried sea moss. This is mostly caused by the environment in which the seaweed has grown. Seaweeds that have grown without much light, or have higher levels of chlorophyll and anthocyanin may have a darker color. 

What is red sea moss?

Sea moss is sometimes referred to as red algae. The red color of some dried Irish moss products is mostly due to a mixture of the three types of sea moss (full spectrum sea moss). The mix of gold, purple, and green sea moss may look red. Also, the shades and colors of gold and purple sea moss may vary a lot according to how the seaweed has grown. These types of sea moss may sometimes look red.

What is pink sea moss?

Pink sea moss is simply a shade variation of purple sea moss. It contains more anthocyanins (the natural antioxidants that give purple sea moss its color) than gold sea moss but less than purple sea moss.

What is blue sea moss?

Blue sea moss does not exist. However, you may find blue sea moss gels in which sea moss is mixed with spirulina. Spirulina is another seaweed that gets its blue color from phycocyanin.

We hope this article has shed light on the different colors of sea moss. If you have any doubts or questions, place your comment below!