These factors will ensure you're getting flavorful seaweed that will last in your pantry until you're ready to use it. Like many pantry staples, dried seaweed needs a cool, dark, dry place to call home.
Depending on the type you're using, seaweed can last between a few weeks thin and crisp varieties, like nori and a few years sturdy varieties, like kombu at room temperature after you open it, so long as it's properly stored. The clock on a package of dried seaweed starts the second you let air in; any added moisture will make it go stale faster, so humid climates and non-air-tight containers are the enemy.
If your seaweed came with a silica gel packet, move that to the zip-top bag or resealable container you plan to store your seaweed in, as it will help keep things dry on the inside. Also, if you have space in your fridge or freezer, you can store your leftover dried seaweed there instead to prolong its life—up to six months for nori and basically forever for kombu.
Just be sure to let the product come completely to room temperature on your countertop before you open the container to keep all additional moisture at bay. Nori is commonly available in thin, crisp sheets—the kind you'd find wrapped around a sushi roll or cut into smaller squares in a snack pack. It's dark green and smooth, with a mild, slightly nutty flavor. Nori sheets are made using a similar technique as paper, where shredded pulp is pressed together and dried on racks.
It's one of the simplest varieties of dried seaweed to work with because it doesn't require rehydration before use. Nori is good to go straight from the bag, but even as little as a wave in front of a burner to crisp it can add a ton of flavor wherever it's deployed. Because of its crumble-able texture, nori is a popular ingredient in spice blends, seasoning mixes, and flavorful toppings—either broken into pieces by hand or ground into a fine powder with a spice mill.
Furikake , a seasoning sprinkle used to top rice and other dishes, is often made with nori in addition to sesame seeds, salt, and sugar. Sold as thick, large, sturdy sheets or shredded in smaller strips, kombu packs a punch; it's beloved for the savory, saline, umami-rich flavor it imparts that's impossible to replicate. Larger pieces are the perfect ingredient to drop into simmering stocks and stews or to build entire dishes around. Dashi, a broth made from water, kombu sheets, and dried bonito flakes, is the base of so many classic and comforting meals.
Rehydrated kombu—either the style that comes shredded or in larger sheets that you thinly slice after they soak—can also be mixed into rice, salads, and noodles dishes. But there is no need to be so formal in talking about benthic macroalgae. We commonly refer to them all the time by the single term seaweeds , and we make use of them far more often than most people realize.
Placing Hana-Tsunomata seaweed in champagne causes the frond to rehydrate and unfold while dancing on the bubbles. Macroalgae come in a great many varieties. Some of the larger ones have complex structures with special tissues that provide support or transport nutrients and the products of photosynthesis; others are made up of cells that are all virtually identical. The smallest seaweeds are only a few millimeters or centimeters in size, while the largest routinely grow to a length of 30 to 50 meters.
Seaweed cells also come in different sizes; in many species they can measure one centimeter or more. These large cells can contain several cell nuclei and organelles in order to ensure that the production of proteins is sufficient to sustain the function of the cell and the rapid growth of the seaweed as a whole.
Macroalgae are classified into three major groups: brown algae Phaeophyceae , green algae Chlorophyta , and red algae Rhodophyta. As all of the groups contain chlorophyll granules, their characteristic colors are derived from other pigments.
Many of the brown algae are referred to simply as kelp. It is estimated that 1, different brown macroalgae, 6, red macroalgae, and 1, green macroalgae are found in the marine environment.
Although the red algae are more diverse, the brown ones are the largest. Even though we talk about the three groups of seaweeds as if they were closely related, this is true only to a minor extent. For example, brown algae and red algae belong to two different biological kingdoms and are, in a sense, less related to each other than, for example, a jellyfish is to a bony fish.
Green algae and red algae are more closely related to higher plants than brown algae are and, together with diatoms, they evolved earlier than brown algae. Most species of seaweeds have soft tissues but some are, to a greater or lesser degree, calcified, an example being calcareous red algae. The growth of the calcium layer is precisely controlled by the polysaccharides that are present on their cell walls. Seaweeds, especially the brown algae, are generally made up of three distinctly recognizable parts.
At the bottom there is a root-like structure, the holdfast, which, as the name implies, secures the organism to its habitat. It is usually joined by a stipe or stem to the leaf-like blades. The seaweed can have one or more blades, and the blades can have different shapes.
In some cases, the blades have a distinct midrib. Photosynthesis takes place primarily in the blades and it is, therefore, important that the stipe is long enough to place them sufficiently close to the surface of the water to reach the light. Some species have air-filled bladders, a familiar sight on bladder wrack, which ensure their access to light by holding them upright in the water. These bladders can be up to 15 centimeters in diameter.
Because brown algae are so much like plants, they are often confused with them. Not all seaweeds share these structures. Some smaller species have a tissue that has a less distinctive structure, consisting only of filaments of cells, which may or may not be branched. But almost all varieties have found their place, one way or another, into the human diet. Originally, seaweeds intended for human consumption were collected along the seashore or picked in the sea.
Those that were eaten fresh were harvested locally and consumed in short order. As seaweeds can be dried and, in that form, kept for a long time and transported easily, they were recognized early on as a valuable foodstuff and became a trading commodity.
Over time, the demand for seaweeds, for a multiplicity of purposes, grew so great that for many centuries they have been actively cultivated, especially in the Far East.
The life history of algae is complicated, and this is what really differentiates them from plants. In fact, macroalgae can pass through life stages so distinct that, in the past, they have been mistaken for separate species. Seaweed reproduction can involve either exclusively sexual or asexual phases, while some species display an alternation of generations that involves both in succession. In the former, the seaweed produces gametes egg and sperm cells with a single set of chromosomes and, in the latter, spores containing two sets of chromosomes.
Some species can also reproduce asexually by fragmentation—that is, the blades shed small pieces that develop into completely independent organisms. The the red alga Porphyra , used for making Japanese nori, has a highly complex life cycle. Asexual reproduction allows for fast propagation of the species but carries with it an inherent danger of limited genetic variation. Sexual reproduction ensures better genetic variation, but it leaves the species that depend on this method of reproduction with an enormous match-making problem, as the egg and sperm cells need to find each other in water that is often turbulent.
Some species solve the match-making problem by equipping the reproductive cells with light-sensitive eyespots or with flagella so that they can swim. Others make use of chemical substances, known as pheromones or sex attractants. These are secreted and released by egg cells and serve to attract the sperm.
Some species for example, the large seaweed masses in the Sargasso Sea secrete enormous quantities of slime, which ensures that the egg and sperm cells stick close to each other and do not go astray. A newly discovered species of red seaweed is now named Porphyra migitae. The red alga Porphyra has an especially complicated life cycle, with a fascinating aspect that merits further discussion because of the interesting history associated with its discovery.
It relates directly to the cultivation of Porphyra for the production of nori, which is especially widely used in Japanese cuisine—most familiarly, as for the wrapping for maki rolls See the recipe in the caption for the nori roll image below. The blades used in nori production grow while the seaweed is in the generation that reproduces sexually, although the organism itself can actually develop asexually from spores.
The blades produce egg cells and sperm cells. The egg cells remain on the blades, where they are fertilized by the sperm cells. Like caviar, the tiny pearls burst in the mouth when eaten and release the brininess of the sea. Blanching and shocking them in cold water removes the extra salt and in Okinawa they are often enjoyed raw with soya sauce.
Hijiki Naturally brown while growing along the rocky coastlines of Japan, Korea and China, hijiki turns black after being boiled and dried for distribution.
In Japan, hijiki is often simmered with vegetables or fish with seasoning like soya sauce and sugar, while in Korea, the seaweed is known as tot and eaten as a seasoned side dish or cooked with rice. Although hijiki contains dietary fibre and minerals like iron, calcium and magnesium, studies have shown that it also contains a high level of inorganic arsenic that can increase risk of cancer.
It is advised to consume hijiki only occasionally. Written by Rachel Tan. Dining In Dining In 5 minutes. A meaty story for carnivores Dining In 2 minutes. An expert level recipe for well-equipped home cooks. Dining In 3 minutes. Phad Thai Thailand Pad Thai. Dining In 1 minute. Recipe Seafood Summer. All articles of Dining In. Keep Exploring - Stories we think you will enjoy reading. It is also intended to provide a synoptic, interactive key later.
Suggestions for additions and corrections to Michael Guiry. Where there is no common name in brackets, we have not discovered as suitable one. Seaweed Swatch from Biodiversity ireland for identifying common intertidal seaweeds in Ireland and Britain. BioAtlantis provides sustainable technologies from the sea to enhance plant, animal and human health.
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