Food rant 1 - Sea vegetables
These fantastic vegetables are tragically underused in western cooking. They are extremely good for you, both in the richness of their mineral content and ability to help the body fight off illness with its anti-biotic properties. They can even help purge the body of any radioactive particles by binding with the particles as it goes through the body.
Enough of the health properties and onto how beautiful a food it is. There are over 400 varieties and this book uses only a handful, namely arame, hijiki, kombu, nori and wakame. Arame with its black and shoe lace look when rehydrated makes a visually stunning display on a plate. It has a mild, sweet taste which tends to be enjoyed by most people so it is a good one to start with.
Hijiki is similar in appearance but has a milder flavour and is much richer in calcium and iron content. The actual plant is very adaptable as it can grow along the sea floor or a 6 foot high bush.
Kombu is used as a food enhancer as it has a large amount of glutanmic acid (used in the making of MSG but without the high carcinogenic properties). If you cook lentils putting a 6inch bit of kombu into the pan makes them a lot easier for the body to digest and absorb the nutrients. It can be quite rubbery so I tend to remove it after cooking.
Nori (or laver) can be bought in sheets which can be used in sushi or cooked and pulverised to make the welsh laver-bread.
Lastly wakame looks like the seaweed you find on the beach when you wander around the British coast lines, that for some reason terrifies one of my friends. This, like nori, can be used to make sushi or added to a dish to add a sweet, sea flavour. A very versatile plant that can be boiled, baked, grilled or eaten raw.
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