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seaweed san 海藻さん

@seaweed.san

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seaweed enthusiast in nyc
sharing seaweed recipes • experiments • news
follow along and try some seaweed cooking!

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Hi! I grew up eating kelp and other types of seaweed in Japan, and always wondered why they aren’t consumed like other seafood here in the U.S. I decided to experiment with seaweed recipes in my home kitchen, and I hope that sharing them here will inspire you to look for seaweed at your local grocery store.

#seaweed #kelp #kombu #konbu #seavegetables #cookingwithseaweed #seaweedrecipes #seaweedsnacks #seaweedenthusiast #海藻 #昆布 #海藻好き by @seaweed.san

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2 years ago

100th Post — Gratitude & (Re)introduction

This is my 100th post! Thanks for following my seaweed journey! When I started this, I didn’t imagine it could lead to meaningful connections, including meetings IRL. If you are new here, welcome!

For those who responded to my AMA this week, THANK YOU! Surprisingly, most of the questions were similar:

“What is your favorite seaweed (seaweed family)?”

I know it sounds basic.... but I like nori (Neopyropia yezoensis) for its versatility and savory taste. I don’t share nori recipes often as it’s a widely known type and other seaweed needs the limelight :) I’d say mozuku (Cladosiphon okamuranus) on hot days like this week. I love slimy seaweed!

Recently, I received a few DMs from folks curious about what I do professionally. So to mark this milestone, here’s a little about me.

I am not a professional chef. I just love to eat. I run this IG to expand my culinary knowledge of seaweed, and to show how it can be incorporated into home cooking. Seaweed isn’t just for high-end restaurants. I am not paid to promote seaweed—at least not now... If you have a job, let me know :)

Professionally, I had no experience in the world of seaweed. But as a former TV journalist who also worked in climate communications, I’m trained to gather information. Now I keep tabs on the news, mainly around edible seaweed.

As I eyed my next career move, I came across an article on the US seaweed industry. Digging deeper, I found one thing repeatedly mentioned as a challenge: educating the public. Seaweed is not a mainstream food item for the majority of Americans, and they don’t know how to cook with it.

I grew up eating seaweed in Japan. It wasn’t anything strange, just an ingredient in everyday food. And so I had the idea for this IG.

As another heatwave hits NYC this week, it reminds me that negative impacts on food production from extreme weather are imminent. I want seaweed to become an established food category we can readily tap into when facing this challenge.

So I continue sharing seaweed content in the hope of making edible seaweed more familiar, and inspiring you to try or experiment with it!

P.S. don’t eat seaweed from NYC water! by @seaweed.san

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3 months ago

Seaweed of Long Island

This is just a post to admire the beauty of seaweed foraged in Long Island. (I ate them all.) Experts and experienced seaweed foragers, please let me know if these seaweeds aren’t what I think they are!

1. Agardhiella subulata
2. Gracilaria tikvahiae
3. Grateloupia turuturu
4. Ulva fenestrata
5. Ulva intestinalis

#seaweedidentification #NewYorkSeaweed by @seaweed.san

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5 days ago

Oeufs en Cocotte (French Baked/Steamed Egg) with Sea Lettuce

As a Japanese person, I tend to rely on recipes and culinary knowledge from back home in creating seaweed recipes for this IG. But when thinking of what to do with eggs and seaweed, I challenged myself to try something different — the French dish Oeufs en cocotte. Eggs are cooked with heavy cream in a hot-water bath in the oven, or steamed in a pan. Herbs like parsley and chives are typically added in, so why not try a green seaweed instead? I went with sea lettuce (Ulva sp.).

It’s not a complicated recipe, but I’ve never been to France or eaten this dish, so I am not sure how close I came to the authentic version. I steamed the eggs in a pan instead of baking them in the oven. But it was delicious! Perhaps due to the combination of an animal protein with the strong oyster-like flavor of this sea lettuce, the experience was like eating a creamy shellfish dish, but toned down a bit with the runny egg.

I thawed frozen sea lettuce for this recipe, but would like to try the dried form and/or experiment with different species next time!

Ingredients:
- Egg, 1
- Cream cheese, 1 tbsp
- Butter, dab to grease ramekin
- Frozen sea lettuce, 1 tbsp
- Onion powder, sprinkle
- Garlic powder, sprinkle
- Salt and pepper, to taste

#青のり入り卵のココット by @seaweed.san

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13 days ago

Seaweed Pairing Series #10: Husk cherry + Nori + Shiso

- Husk cherry, from a friend’s garden
- Roasted nori/gim sheet (Neopyropia yezoensis), from South Korea
- Green shiso, home-grown

RESULT:
The refreshing greens-y flavor of shiso, the husk cherry’s pineapple-like sweetness with a hint of sour, and the nori go so well together. It’s likely the nori releases its flavor when moistened during chewing—it’s the last flavor to come in, and its presence is toned down a bit by the other two rather than being straight-up nori. If the husk cherries are on the sweeter side, this could be a dessert; if they are on the sour side, then a salad! It could make for a good salsa-type dip or condiment. I enjoyed this a lot.

5/5

Rating:
5 stars = mind blown—I want to tell everyone!
4 stars = really good. I want to use it in a recipe.
3 stars = not bad / as expected / could be better.
2 stars = not for me!
1 star = I won’t be doing this again.

#seaweedpairing #海藻フードペアリング #海藻と相性のいい食材 by @seaweed.san

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17 days ago

Agardhiella Salad

I got my hands on some fresh wild Agardhiella (Agardhiella subulata; common name, Agardh’s red weed) from Long Island. At first, I thought it was Gracilaria tikvahiae, but a friend said it wasn’t. Apparently the two are easily mixed up by inexperienced foragers (like me). To make certain, you would need to cross-cut samples of each and check their cell structure with a microscope.

When I tried eating a bit of Agardhiella fresh, it reminded me of biting into raw bean sprouts due to its crisp skin and crunchy, slightly juicy body. To me, the texture is what makes fresh seaweed special. The fresh crunch that just can’t be replicated most of the time with seaweed that has been dried and later rehydrated (which is what I mostly use). Imagine a cucumber fresh off the vine vs. a store-bought one harvested a week or more earlier.

I think fresh Agardhiella could be a good “gateway” variety for people who are new to the world of eating seaweed. It doesn’t have a strong seaweedy flavor, and offers a good texture. It reminded me of my favorite seaweed, mozuku (Cladosiphon okamuranus), so I decided to marinate it in vinegar dressing.

This was soooooo good. The sweet-sour dressing masked the seaweedy flavor almost completely. It still retained a crunch after being marinated for an hour. Mixing green shiso in added a flavor like basil/mint, which paired really well with the dressing.

P.S.: If you are eating foraged wild seaweed, make sure the water is safe. Your local government likely has some sort of map/information you can check. The resource below is maintained by New York state. Look for areas that are open for shellfishing.

https://nysdec.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d98abc91849f4ccf8c38dbb70f8a0042

Ingredients:
- Fresh Agardhiella, approx 1 cup
- Fresh green shiso, about 7 leaves
- Vinegar, 2 tbsp
- Sugar, 1 tbsp
- Soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp
- Water, 1 tbsp

#seaweedsalad #sunomono #vegetarian #アガルディエラと大葉の酢の物 by @seaweed.san

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20 days ago

Garlic Seaweed Paste with Shiso and Fig (no sugar added)

I learned a lot about figs since moving to a property with large, prolific fig trees. Fully tree-ripened figs are nothing like what you get from stores. If I skip harvesting for a day, there will be some overripe/rotten fruits hanging down or on the ground. Overripe figs lose their spongy texture/greens-y flavor, and turn into sweet, jammy, syrup-filled balls that melt in your mouth.

I saw someone asking online if Japanese simmered seaweed (tsukudani) could be made without sugar. Tsukudani is usually seasoned heavily with soy sauce and sugar/mirin as its origin was to preserve surplus catch. Could these figs substitute for sugar? The ingredients still contain forms of sugar, but if I can avoid adding refined sugar I feel slightly healthier. I used zicai (Neoporphyra haitanensis) for this, but you could also use nori or gim (Neopyropia yezoensis).

Sweetening the paste with figs worked. The fig flavor wasn’t too present, but it was a nice balance, plus the fig seeds gave it a crunch. The sweetness depends on the type of fig and level of ripeness. This is where my original post would have ended, but through a bit of spontaneous mixing at dinner I found something too good not to share.

I mixed the paste and shiso garlic dressing. With a sharp spiciness from raw garlic, acidity from vinegar, and a refreshing greenness from shiso, the new paste was fantastic on crackers as well as rice, but what else...? HOT DOGS! I guess I had to make my food a bit unhealthy in the end :)

Some dishes taste better after resting a while. I left the paste in the fridge to rest, and made the dressing the next day right before eating. Fresh green shiso loses its presence in the dressing over time... so you have an excuse to devour it! Also it’s VERY garlicky, so keep that in mind!

Ingredients:
- Zicai, toasted, 10g
- Very ripe fresh figs, cut into small pieces, 3 (approx 80g)
- Soy sauce, 1 tbsp
- Mirin, 1 tbsp
- Bonito dashi powder, 1/4 tsp
- Water, 300ml

- Olive oil, 2 tbsp
- Green shiso, 7 leaves, minced
- Raw garlic, 1 clove, grated
- Vinegar, 1 tbsp

#にんにく大葉海苔の佃煮 by @seaweed.san

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24 days ago

Seaweed Pairing Series #9: Blueberry + Wasabi + Sea Lettuce

- Blueberry
- Wasabi paste
- Dried sea lettuce (Ulva sp.) from Long Island, NY

RESULT: I think this combo has potential. But it depends on the exact characteristics of the ingredients you have on hand. For example, this blueberry was pretty sweet, and the wasabi paste I had was on the sweeter side and not spicy. So the combo wasn’t bad, but it might have been much better with a slightly more sour blueberry and spicier wasabi. The blueberry ended up tasting like a neutral mass covered in wasabi, with sea lettuce flavor and a bit of saltiness coming in only toward the end.

3/5

Rating:
5 stars = mind blown—I want to tell everyone!
4 stars = really good. I want to use it in a recipe.
3 stars = not bad / as expected / could be better.
2 stars = not for me!
1 star = I won’t be doing this again.

#seaweedpairing #海藻フードペアリング #海藻と相性のいい食材 by @seaweed.san

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a month ago

Pressed Sea Lettuce from Seaweed Walk at Plumb Beach

I joined a seaweed walk last month at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn. Thank you to host @torreybotanical and marine biologist Dr. Lowell Iporac @lowell.does.sciart for putting on a fun event!

It took me about 2 hrs to get there by subway and bus, but it was nice to be checking out seaweed in the wild and meeting people who take an active interest in it. I don’t make it to the water so often, as NYC’s shorelines are not easy to access due to manmade infrastructure like industrial zones, highways and seawalls.

During the walk, I noticed a lot of sea lettuce (Ulva sp.). It was especially dense around a large concrete pipe in the middle of the beach. Sea lettuce is known to thrive in polluted water that is high in nitrogen and phosphorus. The pipe, if it’s part of a combined sewer system, likely discharges a combination of storm runoff, untreated human waste and industrial wastewater when the system gets overwhelmed by heavy rains. (About 60% of NYC uses combined sewer systems, per https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/combined-sewer-overflows.page.)

I am cautious about NYC waterways in general, but when I see both a discharge pipe and an abundance of something like sea lettuce, I won’t likely be touching the water or seaweed with my bare hands. I know I can wash my hands afterward, but I prefer not to touch it directly if I can avoid it. Still, I was able to get an up-close view of sea lettuce and handle it carefully with a utensil, even taking some home to press.

Lowell showed us a large piece with many small holes, explaining it was near the end of its life cycle. Sea lettuce at any stage is pretty, and in this hole-y piece I felt an affinity similar to elderly folks with wrinkles. The pieces I pressed at home turned out beautifully.

#pressedseaweed #青のり押し葉 #海藻押し葉 pressed sea lettuce with many small holes on white paper taken in Plumb Beach by @seaweed.san

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a month ago

Young Hijiki Quinoa Salad

Sept. 15 was designated Hijiki Day in Japan by a cooperative in Mie to promote hijiki (Sargassum fusiforme) as a superfood for longevity. The date, designated in 1984, coincided with Respect for the Aged Day (which has since moved to the 3rd Monday in Sept.).

A friend brought me a bag of waka-hijiki from @seaveges. Hijiki can be sold in parts (me-hijiki = leaves/buds; naga-hijiki = stems), but waka-hijiki is whole hijiki harvested at an early phase (“waka” means “young”).

Hijiki is known to absorb more arsenic than other seaweeds. The Sea Vegetables site says their waka-hijiki products have tested within safety standards for arsenic (the Japanese government lists 4.7g (0.17oz)/day of rehydrated hijiki as safe for someone weighing 110lb/50kg). People generally soak and/or boil hijiki in prepping dishes. This can remove 50-90% of the harmful inorganic arsenic, according to the Japanese government.

The package I received, however, said you can simply rehydrate it before eating. I took their word on the arsenic level and only rehydrated it before mixing it in the salad. If you are concerned about the arsenic level in seaweed, please do more research before using hijiki this way.

This was my first time trying young hijiki. Once rehydrated, it had a nice firmness and crunch (not sure how this compares to other hijiki, which I always soak and boil before eating). It also had an earthy, slightly minerally seaweed flavor.

In the salad, I tasted hijiki occasionally, but would’ve needed to use more for it to stand out among the other ingredients and strong citrus garlic dressing. Overall, it was a really tasty dish. Also, I think hijiki might go well with acidic flavors. Other rehydrated or fresh seaweed could work for this, especially firm or crunchy ones like Irish moss, alaria, dulse, etc.

Ingredients (amounts eyeballed, except hijiki):
- Young hijiki, rehydrated, cut bite-size (2.2g dried was 8.6g rehydrated)
- Quinoa, cooked
- Add-ins (figs, husk cherries, chickpeas, peas, walnuts)
- Dressing (olive oil, lime juice, minced garlic, salt, pepper)
- Fresh herb (green shiso), minced

#seaweedquinoasalad #vegetarian by @seaweed.san

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a month ago

Seaweed Pairing Series #8: Cantaloupe + Suji-aonori + Fish sauce

- Cantaloupe
- Suji-aonori (Ulva prolifera) from @seaveges
- Fish sauce from @squidbrandglobal

RESULT: This combo instantly reminded me of raw oyster. Briny and oceany, yet sweet. The saltiness of the fish sauce made the cantaloupe taste sweeter than it would otherwise. As the initial salty, oceany flavor faded, the refreshing cantaloupe came in with its enhanced sweetness and firm, soft-crunchy texture. A slight fish-sauce taste lingered until the end, so this might not be enjoyed universally, but I liked it a lot.

5/5

Rating:
5 stars = mind blown—I want to tell everyone!
4 stars = really good. I want to use it in a recipe.
3 stars = not bad / as expected / could be better.
2 stars = not for me!
1 star = I won’t be doing this again.

#seaweedpairing #海藻フードペアリング #海藻と相性のいい食材 by @seaweed.san

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a month ago

Experiment: Tasting Sea Lettuce in Different States & Forms

There are so many variables that impact how we perceive an ingredient. Temperature, state, interactions with other ingredients, etc. For edible seaweed, you are likely to see it in various states (fresh, dried, frozen, salt-preserved) and forms (whole-leaf, sheet, flakes, granules, powdered, paste).

When I received a fresh batch of wild sea lettuce (Ulva sp.) from friends in May, I was able to experiment with various preservation methods and forms to see how the differences would impact the sea lettuce (SL) flavor in a dish.

For this side-by-side comparison, I prepared SL in four different state/form combos and mixed each with a dab of cream cheese for tasting. I eyeballed the portions and didn’t cover every possible variation, so this wasn’t fully scientific, but it was a good test to see how the states and forms interact.

(photo 2-5: from left top, clockwise)
a. dried, flakes —> strong SL flavor while chewing flakes
b. frozen, minced —> immediate greens-y flavor, with SL’s wetness making cream cheese runnier
c. dried, powdered —> cheese taste hits first, then weak SL flavor
d. salt-preserved, minced —> too salty; should have rinsed off the salt

I think each state and form has its own best use in different dishes, but with cream cheese, b. was the winner if you like strong seaweed flavor.

#青のりの色んな形状と用途 different states and forms of sea lettuce. from top left, clockwise: dried flakes, frozen minced, salted minced, dried powdered by @seaweed.san

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a month ago