John Myers
We know them as a coating for sushi, as a wakame salad, and dried as a seasoning: seaweed. The plants from the sea enrich the menu in many ways, especially in Asian cuisine. Discover the exotic vegetables too!
Nutrient-rich food: seaweed
In Asia, algae have been part of the repertoire of ingredients in the kitchen for more than 4000 years. In Japan, the delicious sushi rice rolls are wrapped in nori algae or you can enjoy wakame, a lush green algae salad – the algae that gives it its name is also on the list of ingredients for the well-known miso soup. The food repertoire known in Europe often ends with vegetables from the sea.
In fact, there are many other edible varieties that are categorized as brown, green, and red algae. The spirulina algae known as a dietary supplement, on the other hand, is a blue-green algae, while chlorella only thrives in fresh water. Due to their nutrients, these algae are touted as superfoods with all sorts of positive effects. However, many health claims are not scientifically tenable.
Are Algae Healthy?
The fact is that fresh algae are rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, folic acid and iodide, and contain significant amounts of other vitamins and minerals. Dried varieties like the nori sheet used for sushi are even more nutritious. Since algae also provide high-quality protein and have a low calorie content, they are definitely a valuable food.
However, the German Society for Nutrition (DGE) warns of the high iodine content, which can lead to problems, especially in people with thyroid diseases. That’s why you shouldn’t eat more than one gram of seaweed a day. Since the plants can potentially be contaminated with pollutants, the DGE advises giving preference to organic quality products. Anyone who follows these recommendations can discover the algae in culinary terms and process them in a variety of dishes.
Cooking with algae: Here’s how
Algae such as wakame or seaweed can be enjoyed raw or cooked, but they are hard to come by fresh in this country. Doused with hot water, however, the dried leaves swell and can be used like fresh specimens. The dried algae can be used directly as an ingredient in an Asian noodle stew, the Peking soup, and of course for your favorite types of sushi. Depending on the variety, the algae serve as a seasoning for the “umami” flavor, which is described as hearty and meaty.
Incidentally, another area of application for algae is the solidification of liquids. As gelling agent agar-agar, the plants can be used as an alternative to gelatine – a great help for vegans.
