What is Kelp?
Kelp is an underwater plant in Minecraft that grows naturally in ocean biomes. It’s not something you craft, but rather something you find growing in the water. When you break kelp, you get the item, which you can use for a few different things.
Where to Find Kelp
Kelp only spawns underwater in ocean biomes. Look for tall underwater plants growing up from the ocean floor. They’ll be stacked on top of each other, sometimes reaching pretty high up toward the surface. If you see seagrass and kelp together, you’ve found a good spot to gather from.
The easiest way to get kelp is to just dive down into an ocean and start breaking the plants. Any ocean biome works, warm or cold doesn’t matter.
How to Collect Kelp
Break any block of the kelp plant and a kelp item will drop. The item floats up through the water, so grab it before it drifts away. You can break as much as you want since kelp respawns naturally.
Here’s the break key for each platform:
- Java Edition: Left click and hold
- Pocket Edition: Tap and hold
- Console (Xbox/PS): Hold RT (Xbox) or R2 (PS)
- Nintendo Switch: Hold ZR
- Windows 10/11 Edition: Left click and hold
What You Can Do with Kelp
Raw kelp isn’t super useful on its own, but you can cook it in a furnace to make dried kelp. Dried kelp can be eaten as food, and a stack of dried kelp blocks can be crafted for decoration. You can also throw kelp into a composter if you need bone meal.
Creative Mode
In Creative mode, kelp is located in your inventory under different tabs depending on your Minecraft version:
- Versions 1.13-1.15: Miscellaneous tab
- Versions 1.16-1.19: Decoration Blocks tab
- Versions 1.19.3+: Natural Blocks tab
Technical Details
Item ID
The item ID for kelp in Java Edition is minecraft:kelp. It stacks up to 64.
Give Command
To get kelp using a command in Java Edition:
/give @p kelp 1
You can change the number (1) to however many kelp you want.