Seaweed is a great power food for garnishing your dishes. It’s packed with minerals, vitamins and amino acids. In Chinese Medicine it is considered a yin nourishing food which means it moistens and softens. These properties can help relieve dry conditions in the body whether it be dry feeling joints from excessive exercise to menopausal dryness symptoms. Having a variety of seaweed allows you to pair your dish with the most compatible seaweed. Enjoy it sprinkled on your food 2-3 times per week.
Your seaweed library…
Kombu-a tough rugged seaweed. Needs to be soaked. You can add soaked kombu cut into thin strips in miso soup with scallions. or just cook right in with your brown rice and water.
Wakame-makes a great seaweed salad. Add a little hot sesame oil, black sesame seeds and a dash of soy sauce. It can also be soaked and sprinkled on top of soup if the flavors match, such as udon noodle soup.
Dulse flakes are like “ocean parmesian.” Sprinkle it on over easy eggs on brown rice with sriracha for a filling asian breaky. It’s great on curry and on salmon mayo salad with rice crackers.
Nori- seaweed paper is great for picking up food. Onigiri is a japanese snack made of rice triangles shaped by hand with meat or veggie pressed in the middle then the whole thing is wrapped in nori. It’s delicious with a dash of wasabi or umeboshi pickled plum paste and dipped in soy sauce.
You can buy these seaweed at your local Asian grocery store and Whole Foods. Maine Coast Sea Vegetables is a great company. Their products are certified organic and they voluntarily test for heavy metals, chemical, petroleum, radioactivity and microbiological contaminants.
Get creative!