In the world of Minecraft, dried kelp is a useful and renewable resource that players can obtain with minimal effort. It serves multiple purposes such as being a compact food source and a surprisingly efficient fuel when crafted into blocks. Knowing how to make dried kelp in Minecraft is essential for survival mode players who want to create sustainable food systems or fuel their furnaces without using up more valuable materials. This guide will walk you through every step of collecting, drying, and using kelp efficiently.
What Is Dried Kelp?
Dried kelp is the result of smelting raw kelp in a furnace or other smelting device. It’s a greenish food item that restores a small amount of hunger but can be consumed very quickly. Besides being edible, dried kelp can also be crafted into dried kelp blocks, which act as one of the best fuel sources in the game.
Key Characteristics of Dried Kelp:
- Restores 1 hunger bar (half of a hunger icon)
- Can be eaten faster than most foods
- Used to craft dried kelp blocks
- Burns for 200 seconds as a block (20 items)
Where to Find Kelp
Before making dried kelp, you need to collect raw kelp. Kelp is a common underwater plant found in ocean biomes. It appears as tall green stalks and grows from the sea floor up toward the water surface.
Best Places to Find Kelp:
- Deep lukewarm ocean
- Regular ocean biome
- Cold ocean biome
Kelp does not generate in warm ocean biomes, so avoid those if you’re looking to farm it. Dive underwater with a helmet enchanted with Respiration or use a Potion of Water Breathing for longer gathering sessions.
How to Harvest Kelp
Harvesting kelp is simple and doesn’t require special tools. You can break the kelp blocks by hand or with any item. The kelp will float to the surface, making it easy to collect afterward.
Tips for Efficient Kelp Gathering:
- Use Depth Strider boots to move faster underwater
- Bring a door or turtle shell to create air pockets
- Harvest the base of the stalk to get multiple kelp pieces at once
How to Make Dried Kelp
Once you have gathered enough raw kelp, the next step is to dry it. To do this, you need a smelting device and a fuel source.
Smelting Devices You Can Use:
- Furnace: Basic and easy to craft
- Smoker: Smelts food twice as fast (including kelp)
- Campfire: Cannot be used for kelp
Place the raw kelp in the top slot of the furnace or smoker, and place a fuel source like coal, charcoal, wood, or dried kelp blocks in the bottom slot. After a few seconds, dried kelp will appear in the output slot.
Fuel Options for Drying Kelp:
- Coal or Charcoal (smelts 8 items)
- Wood Planks (smelts 1.5 items)
- Bamboo (fast but smelts only 0.25 items)
- Dried Kelp Block (smelts 20 items)
Once you start making dried kelp, consider saving some to craft dried kelp blocks for future smelting. This creates a sustainable loop using kelp as both food and fuel.
Crafting Dried Kelp Blocks
After collecting enough dried kelp, you can craft it into blocks. These blocks are excellent for compact storage or long-lasting fuel.
How to Craft Dried Kelp Blocks:
- Open the crafting table
- Fill all 9 squares with dried kelp
- Take the resulting dried kelp block from the output slot
Each dried kelp block smelts up to 20 items, making it more efficient than coal and ideal for large-scale cooking or ore smelting operations.
Uses of Dried Kelp in Minecraft
Dried kelp isn’t just for eating. Its versatility makes it a great addition to any Minecraft survival world.
Main Uses of Dried Kelp:
- Food Source: Eat dried kelp to recover hunger quickly
- Fuel: Use dried kelp blocks in furnaces for long smelting sessions
- Compost: Use excess kelp or dried kelp in composters to make bone meal
Many players use dried kelp as part of an automated farming and cooking system, especially when combined with redstone or hoppers. It’s one of the few food items that can be produced in large amounts with minimal effort.
Building an Automatic Kelp Farm
If you want to produce dried kelp in large quantities, consider building an automatic kelp farm. With pistons, observers, and hoppers, you can set up a redstone machine that harvests kelp and sends it directly to furnaces or smokers.
Basic Steps for a Simple Auto Kelp Farm:
- Create a water source with kelp growing from dirt blocks
- Place observers facing the top part of the kelp stalks
- Connect pistons below the observers to break the kelp when it grows
- Use hoppers and chests to collect the harvested kelp
- Route kelp into furnaces for automatic drying
Once built, this setup can produce hundreds of dried kelp with very little maintenance. It’s ideal for players who need a steady fuel supply or want to avoid managing animal farms.
Tips and Tricks for Efficient Kelp Production
Maximizing your dried kelp output involves both smart harvesting and efficient smelting.
Helpful Tips:
- Use smokers instead of furnaces to dry kelp twice as fast
- Combine dried kelp with hoppers to create auto-fueling systems
- Always keep extra dried kelp for crafting fuel blocks
- Use silk touch to move furnaces or kelp farm components without breaking them
- Grow kelp in lighted areas to ensure faster underwater growth
Advantages of Using Dried Kelp
Dried kelp stands out among Minecraft food and fuel items due to its renewability and efficiency. It is one of the few options that allow for an infinite fuel loop, and while it doesn’t restore much hunger per piece, its fast eating animation makes it useful during combat or while exploring.
Why Dried Kelp Is Worth Making:
- Completely renewable and grows quickly underwater
- Can be farmed passively using redstone machines
- Crafts into fuel blocks with better smelting performance than coal
- Takes up less inventory space when stored as blocks
Making dried kelp in Minecraft is one of the easiest and most sustainable ways to maintain a steady food supply and generate powerful furnace fuel. From harvesting kelp in ocean biomes to drying it in smokers and crafting fuel blocks, every step is simple yet highly efficient. Whether you’re early in your survival game or running an advanced automated farm, dried kelp can play a valuable role in your resource management strategy. Master the kelp cycle, and you’ll never run out of food or fuel again.