Seaweed in the Kitchen

This is a revised edition, now in full colour, of a book originally published in 2014.

Although seaweed is now all the rage due to its sustainability, nutritional value and exposure as a key element in many Asian cand indigenous cuisines, it has also long been an important ingredient in coastal communities in the West. Seaweed is sold in most mainstream grocery chains now but a walk on a local beach will deliver the goods just as well. The author of this book lives in the Hebrides and she provides much information about the Hebrides as a unique foraging location (but this serves as an example of what can be found elsewhere); instructions on how to forage seaweed and a wide range of intelligent and properly tested recipes.

The book has four strands: an account of seaweed species that flourish in Britain; a discussion of British uses of seaweed over time, and in regional cookery; an assessment of the physical properties of seaweed and how they might contribute to a healthful diet; and a set of recipes. These last are not merely for boiling up dulse, or steaming kelp, but offer imaginative solutions to incorporating seaweed into our daily fare: poached salmon, laver and seville orange en croute, sea aster pesto, a seaweed brown bread ice-cream, dried seaweed biscuits, seaweed seasoning powder, water biscuits with rock samphire, Shony breadsticks,and many more.