The contents of potassium, calcium, and sodium cations (determined by ICP-OES) are shown in As expected, the three κ-carrageenan samples mainly contained potassium ions besides smaller amounts of sodium and calcium ions. The ι-carrageenan samples were more heterogeneous, although potassium was the predominant cation in all five -carrageenan samples. In addition, IC1, IC3, and IC4 showed significant amounts of calcium, whereas for samples IC2 and IC5 significant amounts of sodium were detected. The observations made for κ-and ι-carrageenan are in good agreement with the literature . The λ-carrageenans and the unspecified samples