http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/seaweed-the-secret-superfood-hiding-in-britains-waters/
We’ve combed the earth looking for health foods: acai from Brazil, coconut oil from Asia, quinoa from Peru. But the ingredient that’s getting chefs and health-conscious home cooks excited this summer has been strewn along our shores all along.
Native seaweeds harvested from Cornwall and Scotland are appearing everywhere from top restaurants to supermarket shelves, so if you don’t know your dulse from your kombu, you soon will.
It’s a rich source of iodine, which aids metabolism, and is high in fibre and protein, and is already consumed regularly in many parts of the world, notably Japan. “France has got a good seaweed industry, as has Wales – because of laver bread – and Ireland,” says Caro Warwick-Evans of Cornish Seaweed.
Warwick-Evans and other producers, such as Mara Seaweed in Scotland, have noticed a steady increase in interest over the last few years. Then seaweed hit the headlines in September 2015 when Jamie Oliver featured it on Jamie’s Super Food. “When somebody with the gravitas of Jamie Oliver announces a diet which includes seaweeds helped him lose weight, then people listen,” says Paul O’Connor of the Irish company This Is Seaweed. Sales of seaweed rose 125 per cent in the year to January 2016.
Demand for Itsu’s Seaweed Thin multipacks is also up 108 per cent on last year, and you can now buy Cornish Seaweed’s fresh kombu in Waitrose, its sea spaghetti in Tesco, and Mara’s dulse flakes in Marks & Spencer.
Chefs are excited about British seaweed: early adopters include Stephen Harris of The Sportsman, who has been using sea lettuce and gutweed from the beach outside his gastropub for years (to make The Sportsman’s signature seaweed butter). Nathan Outlaw and Andy Appleton at Fifteen Cornwall were some of the first chefs to support Cornish Seaweed, says Warwick-Evans, at a time when she was cycling around London getting turned down by many others.
Meanwhile, Fiona Houston of Mara Seaweed says that interest from restaurants has been building for a while. “There are certain influencers, such as Brett Graham at The Ledbury and Michael Smith [ex-Three Chimneys, on Skye], who have been using Mara products for several years, which has helped.”
You’ll find seaweed butters, mayo and other dishes on the menu at other top London restaurants, including Native, Rabbit and Lyle’s.
“Seaweed adds real depth of flavour, even when used in small amounts or as a seasoning,” says food writer Alice Hart, who uses it in a clutch of recipes in The New Vegetarian (Square Peg, £19.99). “You get an umami hit commonly found in strong ingredients such as anchovies and Parmesan, which can be an elusive beast if you’re cooking vegan food.” That savoury hit from a sprinkling of dried seaweed means there’s less need to add salt, making it an interesting addition to your cooking and a boon for people watching their salt intake.
So how does seaweed get from shore to plate? Cornish Seaweed has a licence from the Crown Estate to harvest seaweed. The small team dons wetsuits, and dives for kombu and sea spaghetti twice a week, careful to only take half the plant. In springtime they also harvest seaweed from the beach, cutting it with scissors and carrying it back to their drying facility. Before they dry it, it needs a good wash. Mara Seaweed only harvests in the intertidal zone (below the low water mark), and at certain times of year: “Ours are all seasonal seaweeds, and have to be harvested in season, just like any other vegetable,” says Houston.
If you’re thinking of foraging for seaweed yourself, you need to do some research, learn about the different edible varieties, and don’t be greedy, says Fiona Bird, author of Seaweed in the Kitchen (Prospect Books, £12). “Foragers should be mindful of the rules of the countryside. Pick enough for yourself, no more.” Seaweed’s advocates are passionate about its health benefits, and its potential as a sustainable food of the future.
“Seaweeds typically have a broader range of nutrients than land-grown vegetables,” says Simon Ranger of the Seaweed Health Foundation. “In Japan, the equivalent of a teaspoonful of dried seaweed a day is considered ‘de rigueur’ – like ‘an apple a day’ in Britain – and for very good health reasons.” Seaweed is slipping into the mainstream – is it time you took the plunge?
Salmon and seaweed ramen recipe
‘British seaweed – the ingredient that’s getting health-conscious cooks excited – has been strewn along our shores all along’
SERVES
Two
INGREDIENTS
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp miso paste
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced diagonally
- 2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 x 200g pots udon noodles
- 1 tin Mara Seaweed dulse flakes
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 x 400g skinless salmon fillets
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
- Wasabi paste and pickled ginger to serve
METHOD
Pour the stock and miso paste in a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Add the shallots, ginger and soy sauce.
Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes to develop the flavours into a soup. Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the packet.
Mix two tablespoons of dulse seaweed flakes with the sesame seeds. Roll and coat the salmon fillets.
Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook salmon for two minutes each side or until almost cooked through. Cool slightly. Slice.
Divide noodles and soup among serving bowls. Top with salmon, spring onions, more dulse seaweed flakes and serve with wasabi and pickled ginger.
Recipe by The Rare Brand Market and James Golding from Food Stories.
