Vegetables of the Sea

Seaweed, sea vegetables, sea youth preservers – whatever you want to call them, they are among the most nutritious foods the earth has to offer. Among numerous other health benefits, anti-oxidant rich seaweed is known to prevent aging and chronic disease, prevent cellular mutations that cause cancer, relieve menopausal symptoms, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, improve heart health and detoxify the body. I found an excellent article on Body Ecology about some healthy seaweeds worth trying:

Nori
This may be the one seaweed you're familiar with because of its use in sushi rolls. Even though it's usually dark green, or black in color, Nori is the Japanese term for various edible seaweed species of red algae.

Kombu
Great for Soup. Kombu is an edible large seaweed that actually belongs to a family of brown algae. Over 90 percent of it is cultivated and harvested in Japan.

Wakame
Wakame is closely related to Kombu. In addition to many mentioned benefits, recently, researchers in Japan found a compound in wakame that appears to show promise in the fight against obesity.

Hijiki 
Natural Beauty Aid. This brown sea vegetable grows wild around the coasts of Japan, Korea and China and has been used abundantly for centuries. Packed with fiber and minerals, according to Japanese folklore, hijiki is also a natural health and beauty aid. They attribute their lustrous, thick, dark hair to regular consumption of hijiki!

Dulse 
Dulse is grown on the northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and has been an important source of fiber in Iceland for centuries. It's also common in Northern Ireland, and in Canada. In Iceland, the tradition is to eat it with butter, although it's delicious in soups, and as a salad topping too.

Arame 
Arame is also a brown algae that is very popular in Japanese cuisine, and is known for it mild, almost sweet flavor. It's usually found in finely shredded strands that have a crispy texture. If you're not used to eating seaweeds, arame can be a good place to start because of its's mild, almost sweet flavor.

Agar 
Perfect for Sweet Desserts! Agar is a vegetarian alternative to gelatin. As you know, digestive heath is our specialty at Body Ecology, so we love recipes based around agar. It lubricates your digestive tract, and has mild laxative properties.