What is the difference between wakame and nori

Nori , sometimes referred to as laver, is made out of red alga. Nori is produced by a drying process and comes in neat square or rectangle sheets. Although most commonly seen as the "black wrapping" of a roll, nori is also great right out of the bag. The crispy texture is irressistable. Unlike some other types of "seaweed" you do not soak nori in water. If you do so - it will fall apart. That's a mouthful. Wakame is most commonly seen in miso soup.

Before that stage, however, it's usually dry at least in the states and rehydrated. Wakame must be hydrated and consumed, unless you like scratch marks on your esophagus. Dry wakame is super convenient because it never goes bad.

When I don't have salad greens on hand, I can always rely on these shriveled dudes for a fantastic wa-fu salad. If you get a mouthful of hydrated Undaria pinnatifida in your mouth, you will find it to be slippery and potentially slimy. The texture is the pull here - since it doesn't taste very strong.

Thicker parts of the wakame can be described as crunchy or "kori kori" in Japanese. And good dashi begins with kombu. Kombu is the toughest of all four seaweeds introduced today and like wakame , it is always rehydrated. It is often not consumed directly even after hydration , but used for stock-making. Some exceptions to eating the actual kombu are for oden and battera sushi.

However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. If you've already got a pantry full of dried ocean greens you know: Seaweed is a powerhouse. Depending on the variety you're working with, the ingredient can be a flavor enhancer , textural marvel , or both , making it a versatile and shelf-stable kitchen MVP.

So many dishes rely on the savory, specific taste of seaweed to succeed; harnessing its strengths in your home kitchen is a gateway to better cooking. Seaweed is a broad term, encapsulating all edible saltwater plants and algae. Some varieties look like the long stalks of kelp you've seen washed up on the beach, while others more closely resemble heads of lettuce, leafy bushes, or even thick grasses.

Seaweed used for culinary purposes is harvested from the ocean and dried immediately, to be packaged at its peak. The result is a pouch of crisp, firm shards that loosen and soften into tender, saline bites when rehydrated in warm water. As with any pantry staple, there are a few tricks to shopping for and successfully storing dried seaweed—nail them, and you'll be rewarded with countless flavorful meals with the unique, nutrient-rich ingredient at their center.

Read on for a primer, as well as an outline of the six types of seaweed we love to cook with most, plus lots of ideas for putting them to use. Each variety of seaweed more on a few of our favorites below has its own optimum visual and textural characteristics to look out for while shopping.

Nori, for example, should be vibrantly colored and not splotchy or powdery. Kombu, on the other hand, is often coated in a white powder when purchased, which is totally fine—it's the savory-flavor-giving glutamic acid in the ingredient appearing on the surface, and it can be wiped off before use.

There are some overarching things to consider when buying any type of dried seaweed. Make sure that the product is crisp and dry, with no signs of moisture in the bag or spongey or soft spots on the seaweed itself. It should not be overly crumbly or gray in color. And the container should be well-sealed, with no way for air to enter. These factors will ensure you're getting flavorful seaweed that will last in your pantry until you're ready to use it. Like many pantry staples, dried seaweed needs a cool, dark, dry place to call home.

Depending on the type you're using, seaweed can last between a few weeks thin and crisp varieties, like nori and a few years sturdy varieties, like kombu at room temperature after you open it, so long as it's properly stored.

The clock on a package of dried seaweed starts the second you let air in; any added moisture will make it go stale faster, so humid climates and non-air-tight containers are the enemy. If your seaweed came with a silica gel packet, move that to the zip-top bag or resealable container you plan to store your seaweed in, as it will help keep things dry on the inside. Also, if you have space in your fridge or freezer, you can store your leftover dried seaweed there instead to prolong its life—up to six months for nori and basically forever for kombu.

Just be sure to let the product come completely to room temperature on your countertop before you open the container to keep all additional moisture at bay. Wakame is very similar to another seaweed called Alaria , which makes a good substitute if wakame is unavailable where you live, though Alaria is a bit tougher.

Dulse is by far my favorite seaweed. In fact, this is the only type of seaweed that I enjoy eating nearly unadorned, at times right out of the bag. Cook up onions and salt them with dulse flakes, then use them to make baked beans or cassoulet , cioppino or chowder. Add a scant teaspoon to smoothies. Crisp the dulse in a pan and use it in a sandwich with lettuce and tomato for a vegetarian take on a BLT.

Make a seafood and sea-vegetable paella and crumble toasted dulse over the top, along with charred lemons and plenty of clams and mussels. Toast it and grind it in a spice grinder, then use it on top of popcorn, along with olive oil. Arame is a mildly sweet kelp that looks like wispy, wiry strands of black vermicelli.

Rehydrate it in warm water for five minutes, then toss the arame into salads with roasted kabocha or butternut squash, toasted pumpkin seeds, sesame oil, and rice vinegar; the color contrast between the black arame and the orange squash is especially appealing. Or, try stir-frying broccoli with oyster sauce and arame. Arame is a close cousin though thinner and more tender of hijiki , a seaweed that's become controversial in recent years due to its high levels of inorganic arsenic.

National food-safety authorities disagree over the risks of consuming hijiki—you can read up on the science here —but if you decide against it, arame makes a great substitute.

Essentially the salad greens of the sea-vegetable world, sea lettuce is tender, mild, and best eaten raw.

Ao-nori is a bright-green, especially fragrant form of nori, commonly used in flake form and sprinkled for example over the savory Japanese dish okonomiyaki. A red or purplish lacy sea vegetable with a snappy texture, most commonly seen in your bowl of poke , ogo-nori is sometimes found fresh or dried in Japanese or Hawaiian markets, or online. Ogo can be pickled or used in salads or kimchi. Consider using it as a gorgeous bed to display raw oysters, too.

Sea grapes, also known as umibudo and sold fresh instead of dried, are a delightful sea vegetable that looks like tiny clusters of caviar, with the brininess of the sea and a satisfying pop. I use them as garnishes for seafood-based pasta dishes ; you can also blanch and shock them to remove extra salt, then dip them in a citrus-soy sauce. Also known as Salicornia or sea beans, though it looks more like teeny-tiny bolting asparagus, samphire is a salty, snappy sea vegetable found in salt marshes.

Like sea grapes, samphire is sold fresh. It's ideal when blanched and shocked in ice water, then heated gently with butter and served with fish dishes or in salads. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

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