Gourmet caramelized Kelp
This post is about making preserved gourmet caramelized Kelp from freshly washed-up or beach-cast ocean Kelp seaweed. It makes an unusual, tasty nutritious and possibly health-giving supplement to meals. It is for adventurous ‘free-range’ cooks who sail, ocean fish or like to wander along lonely ocean beaches.
Introduction
Kelp is another pesty byproduct of ocean fishing as it gets caught on lines and gets reeled in for removal or it washes in on beaches after storms. In a post titled wanderers seafood ideas, I describe my first culinary use of Kepl. It was inspired by my visits to Japan to enjoy everything including their hospitality, wonderful foods and powder skiing terrain.
I am still unsure of the Japanese name for our common ocean Kelp. The Japanese make a soup stock made from Kelp from the seas around Hokkaido. It seems to have the name Kombu but it is a different looking Kelp to the one (shown in the photo below) that washes up on my beaches.
I used freshly sliced Kelp as an ‘interesting’ supplement for stir-fry vegetable dishes. Although it developed a pleasant if unusual (weird slimy) texture just before cooking and then a strange soft crunch texture with no slime after cooking, it did not seem to have an instant appeal to other family members.
I should also tell readers that if you think you have not encountered Kelp in your life, then think again. According to Wikipedia, extracts of Kelp are in many of our processed products: ice cream, jelly, salad dressing, toothpaste and skincare gelling agents. The Kelp carbohydrate, alginate, can be polymerised for making orthodontic impressions.
Even large scale Aquaculture could one day make, Kelp become a CO2 sink that could produce biofuels.
When used with the cooking of beans it can break down complex sugars and reduce the flatulence (of the eater, I presume). “It is nothing short of miracle food if it can do that!”
Not to be discouraged by my previous Kelp recipe, on a recent ocean fishing holiday, I resolutely reeled-in some big fighting strands of succulent fresh glistening Kelp from the undertow.
I thought that if my fishing at this new beach was a failure, I could again try my luck with another seaweed culinary trick to continue to pretend that I was still the great hunter-gatherer-poobah.
It was a high-risk strategy for someone who had reached a mature age (of wisdom?) where they know that they are no longer invincible.
Anyway, the dreamt-up recipe was a great success and after cautiously eating a small sample, the remainder of the dish was eagerly shared and eaten.
“Yes, we will have that again thanks.” is, at least, my definition of culinary success. I should add that also having fresh fish for dinner was a big help. The fish smelled like the ocean and not that smell of a fish shop. “I was in luck.”
Gourmet caramelized Kelp
Weed species selection. Australia has an abundance of seaweeds (or more correctly macroalgae) and most are edible. Some bio-accumulate heavy metals and undesirable chemicals, but this is probably a problem of the pollution of their growing environment, rather than a problem of the weed per se. But let’s stick with Kelp from our relatively clean oceans because that is what I know about. Each strand has a massive yield, it is so abundant and is easily identified.
Size selection. I select thinner and more translucent weeds, as in the photo above. I do this because it is easier to prepare and faster to dry or dehydrate for storage. It tastes and looks good on the plate. I don’t know if the much thicker kelp tastes as good, but I am certain that my rapid preparation method (described later) would be much more difficult with very thick Kelp.
Daily intake. According to a report about research by O.J. Mouritsen, a biophysics researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, we all should incorporate more seaweed in our diet.
He suggest that 5-10g of dry seaweed equivalents would be suitable for the many significant health benefits. I presume this is also a safe daily intake.
Eating beach-cast seaweed. In the above research, it also indicates that beach-cast or washed-in seaweed is unsuitable for consumption. No explanation was given.
However, I can see no reason why fresh healthy Kelp that has broken off from the anchored stem and has been drifting in the sea would not still be alive and healthy. After all, as marine macroalgae, it should stay happy and in good shape just drifting around in the ocean.
To give support to my argument, I quote The science of seaweed where they say: “Given that all the substances that seaweeds need in order to survive are dissolved in the water, macroalgae, unlike plants, have no need of roots, stems, or real leaves. Nutrients and gases are exchanged directly across the surface of the seaweed by diffusion and active transport.”
Other seaweed foragers milkwood and collectable edible seaweeds seem to agree with the safety of eating fresh beach-cast seaweed. “I would suggest that you just eat the succulent fresh looking pieces that have just washed in on ocean beaches. Keep well away from potential pollution. Just use the stale looking stuff on your garden or in your compost. .”
Washing. I am a beach lover, but I hate sand in my food. Consequently, I like to wash off the sand with salt water and then again with fresh water, at camp, if possible before preparing it for eating or drying for storage.
Drying. Drying is quick if the seaweed is hung up in a tree or yacht rigging in the sun and breeze. This can make the preparation of the weed for this recipe easier and less sticky-slimy-messy and makes it easily storable.
Dry or fresh? For this recipe, I will describe it using the dry method, but I first used the fresh weed. Both methods worked well, but the dry method is easier and can be done at your leisure. It is also very good for bulk preparation of the caramelized Kelp shards for future eating pleasure. White salt crystals can form on the dry seaweed these can be wiped off with a damp cloth.
Cutting. I start by cutting the blades from the stem. Then I cut fine slices across the blade to make the fine shards. At first, I used my freshly sharpened fishing kife on the fresh weed and it took a considerable time to prepare a feed. I later found that sharp scissors worked well, but there was a tendency for the ‘seaweed blade’ to become very slippery (with slime) and slide out of the scissor blades.
With the dry seaweed, I found that snipping was easy. There was no slime or slipping and multiple blades could be laid on top of one another and cut at the same time.
Multi-scissors. Then I remembered that I had accidentally purchased some multi-bladed herb scissors. “I thought I was purchasing a cheap pack of four scissors from for my metal foil cutting work, only to find that they were all joined together. I had never used them on herbs as I am ‘quite-handy’ with a knife.” These scissors were just great for bulk preparation of seaweed shards (either fresh or dried).
Even the scabbard for the scissors has a neat comb formed at the end that can be used to clear out any shards that get stuck between the blades.
Cooking fresh Kelp shards. I use this method when cooking by the sea. Add a little olive oil to a pan or wok and throw into oil and mix to coat shards with oil as the heat is applied. Cook and stir frequently until a little crunchy and until the desired caramelization is achieved.
Cooking dry Kelp shards. I use this method when cooking at home and it is more suitable for bulk preparation for future storage and quick use on demand.
Add the bulk dry shards to large baking pans and add olive and mix to coat shards evenly with oil. Any excess oil will be left behind in the pan. Add a cup of water and mix again. Then bake in the oven at 180C until the water evaporates off and the shards become a little crunchy and until the desired caramelization is achieved. Mix a couple of times during the baking.
Serve freshly cooked and store the remainder in an air-tight bag or jar.
Rehydration. If fresh textured Kelp is required at a later stage, the dry (uncooked) shards it can be rapidly rehydrated to restore it original and ‘fresh’ texture and rather quirky slimy properties.
Similarly, the toasted/roasted shards hydrate quickly to recover the original texture, but without the slimy properties. So in both forms, they are very versatile.
In my experience, the slimy properties is lost if the seaweed is boiled and I don’t know what lesser temperature would make this change. ( I should do some tests with my dehydrator.)
Moist cutting. I also cut up the Kelp stems to include in the shards. These are thicker and harder to cut. However, I have found that the dry stem can be moistened with a little water. This softens the stems without allowing them to go slimy and slippery and they become very easy to cut.
This moist cutting method would be good to use on Kelp blades that are not quite the ideal thickness.
Note: With a bit more experienced, I now suggest keeping the stem shards separately as they are a bit slower to melt in the mouth. They would be more suitable for incorporation into cooked dishes where they have more time to rehydrate or alternatively put them in the compost.
Tim
