Would you like a little SEA WEED with that?

I have to admit that, while growing up, the thought of eating sea weed was not something that brought a smile to my lips. Thankfully, as a child, times when I actually had to eat sea weed were few and far between. Now, as an adult and in my home, sea weed is an exciting addition to our meals, even for my children. Which goes to show, if you start them while they are young and talk about doing it in an exciting way, you can get your children to like anything. Well, almost anything...sauerkraut might take awhile.

Anyway, back to sea weed. We mainly use two types of sea weed in our home: Kombu and Wakame, with an emergent third sea weed, Dulse, making its debut in our home.

BEANS
When I cook beans, I first soak them for 72 hours, changing the soaking water morning and night. When it's time to cook, I get the pan of beans boiling on the stove, skimming off any scum that shows up. After five minutes, throw in a palm-hand size piece of Kombu. The Kombu, for the most part, will dissolve while cooking and impart a great deal of sea minerals into your beans. Good quality sea weed does not have that horrible sea flavor or smell that most people associate with sea weed, so no worries. When the beans have boiled for ten minutes I cover the pot and turn it down to simmer. Each time I stir the beans while they are simmering the piece of Kombu breaks up and dissolves faster. I once tried chopping my Kombu up pretty small before adding it to the pot of beans, thinking it would dissolve faster. Surprisingly, it didn't. Instead all of the pieces stayed the same size. When my now mineral rich beans are done cooking I use them for whatever we need beans for. A lot of the time I will just mix in onion and parsley, simmer a little longer, and serve it over rice. Simple and delicious. 

SOUP
We do homemade soups all the time. Generally, if it is a vegetable soup, I will chop up Wakame in to bite size pieces and throw it in while the vegetables are cooking. Once again, good quality sea weed does not have that icky flavor. Wakame in soup is much like cabbage and kale in soup, down right delicious!


SALT SHAKER
In my salt shaker that sits on the stove, I add 1/2 tablespoon powdered seaweed to 1 cup salt. This is the shaker I use whenever I am cooking at the stove, to impart a little extra goodness to whatever I am cooking.

SNACKING
Very recently, after the nuclear scare associated with the Japan Earthquake, we have acquired Dulse for snacking and getting extra good iodine into our bodies. Back in the early 1900's you would find bowls of peanuts and pieces of this sea weed mixed together on the counters and tables in Irish pubs. This sea weed does have a bit more of a zing to it, so mixing it with other snack mixes makes it very doable.

Until I have the skills, know-how, and live on the coast to be able to hand harvest my own sea vegetables, I depend on Maine Coast Sea Vegetables for all of my sea weed needs. They are the best source so far that I have discovered for obtaining seaweed, plus you save lots ordering from their website in comparison to buying in the store. Plus, anything I have seen in the store, even in Asian markets, is cheap and poor quality with that icky sea flavor.  Maine Coast Sea Vegetables hand harvests their sea wares in an eco-conscious way. Along with that, they carry an organic standard with their wares. You can read about it all on their website.