Seaweed

Posted on 22. Jan, 2010 by grace in Ingredients, Japanese, Korean

Seaweed first made news in the United States decades ago as a kooky Asian health food fad, popular with “hippies.” These days the intriguing ingredient has moved onto more sophisticated and fashionable international circles on land and even at sea although Asian chefs are still leading the way with their innovative ideas.

Dishes can be as lavish as the tony updated grazing, sampler menus new to the posh Norwegian Cruise Lines this season: a small designer plate of mini-soba noodle and seaweed salad plus spring rolls with their own three dipping sauces. The dish is part of the cruise line kitchen’s answer to guest preferences for more high of a variety of quality raw and ethnic dishes; lighter, smaller portions, and more visual presentations. Royal Caribbean chefs already mirrored the national trend toward Asian Fusion in their 2005 menu.

Ironically, passengers on the luxury liners are probably sailing over beds of the economically and ecologically important marine algae found throughout the world. Long considered a great delicacy in Asia, it is the main food species grown by aquaculture in China, Korea and Japan (Nori, Kombu and Wakame) with Japanese Nori production worth $2 billion annually. The friendliness of seaweed to humans is legendary with no known poisonous species. There’s even a “gourmet” seaweed salad designed for that favorite pet fish.

Though usually thought of as an Asian food ingredient, seaweed has already been gaining popularity around the world in rustic circles. In the British Isles, laver, a purplish-black, wild North Atlantic cousin to nori, is mixed with fat and rolled oats and fried into a breakfast bread.

Caution is advised, however, in what form of seaweed is being eaten since its origin from the ocean naturally means “salty.” Certain forms of the “edible sea vegetable” may be in the “greens” category but lay claim to high sodium content and added ingredients that counter its health benefits.

For example, unlike the lower sodium kelp and laver, high sodium Wakame is basic to the goma wakame based seaweed salad commonly served in sushi restaurants. An additional taste-enhancing list of ingredients further dilutes the salad’s nutritional profile, beginning with agar, distilled vinegar, sugar, salt, yellow and blue food coloring, and high-frustrose corn syrup. A three ounce-100 calorie serving can boast of 1 gram of protein and a scanty 70 milligrams of calcium but also must own up to 5 grams of fat, 11 grams of sugar, and a monstrous 1,200 mg of sodium.

Health-conscious cooks learned long ago that small amounts of the undiluted sea vegetable, especially readily available fresh and dried Wakame, remain packed with nutrients including vitamins A, C, E, B complex and B12, as well as calcium, potassium, iron, protein, fiber and some omega-3 fatty acids and work best to spark the taste soups, simmered dishes salads, sandwiches and stir-fries. For example, diet guru, Dr. Andrew Weill, created his “DLT” vegan alternative to the American standard, BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato). Instead of bacon, “Chef” Weill substitutes dulse briefly sautéed in olive oil or purchases a smoked version.

Dried seaweed can be purchased in health food stores, fish markets, Asian markets and online from a number of sources. But it’s much easier– and more fun to order a seaweed salad at a restaurant. Their pantries can accommodate large amounts of fresh seaweed salad ingredients and the chefs own specialty tools necessary to prepare them. Asian restaurant chefs long understood the value of seaweed as the earth’s natural bounty, incorporating it as an integral part of both salads and sushi wrappings.

Seaweed salads can also be as simple as an on-the-go Asian Market lunch comprised of a package of dried or marinated with soy sauce, black vinegar, sesame oil and sesame seeds. The Gyu-Kaku Japanese restaurant chain features three inexpensive seaweed dishes. Seasonings in the soothing, kelp soup balanced out the saltiness. Seaweed played a relatively minor but key role in the Seaweed Salad. The salad consisted of a refreshing, pleasant mix of dried wakame and laver seaweed and mushrooms on a bed of greens with citrus flavored Japanese ponzu vinaigrette and garnished with two baby tomatoes. Yet the “cute” Cream Cheese rolled in Seaweed turned out to be the most appealing because of the combination of textures and the sesame oil coating on the seaweed. This along with their solo Crispy Seaweed are best sellers.

Seaweed and Cancer
The anti-carcinogenic properties of brown seaweeds (kelp) are well noted but not yet understood. Documentations are numerous in traditional Chinese medicine, ancient Ayurvedic texts and even in a mention in the Ebers Papyrus of the ancient Egyptians using seaweed to treat breast cancer. In the last century, limited research was encouraging but not yet definitive. Laboratories in Japan, France, Australia and the U.S. indicated that the most effective are pure Kombu and Wakame seaweeds richest in Focoidan, which appear to induce anti-tumor activity to treat cancer effectively.The most popular theory proposed is that pure seaweed provokes stimulation of the immune system as part of a combination of factors. This does not include seaweed supplements sold as “energy boosters” that are heated at very high temperatures, and then ground into a powder before being mixed with binders to make tablets. However, they may boost energy in those who are iodine deficient and have under active thyroids. Which brings up another concern, that of kelp containing high amounts of iodine, which for most people is safe if eaten in amounts of about 0.25 ounce/day.

*Gerry Furth-Sides writes the “Front of the House” column for Great-Taste magazine and is working on a book about immigrants who became successful restaurateurs in the United States.