Seaweed Salad

July 31, 2022 2:19 PM

Looking for wakame in 'thread' form ...

I'm trying to replicate the seaweed salad I get from the local co-op grocery store. The 2 main ingredients are "seaweed" and "agar-agar". My understanding is that they buy it in bulk and then divide it into smaller packages. The seaweed in this product are "threads" (see photo, link below). The difficulty I'm having is finding the right kind of wakame. The wakame I have looks like threads when dry in the package, but then becomes leafy upon soaking in water. My understanding is that there is wakame in thread form from more mature plants but this I cannot find. I have agar-agar which maintains its thread form in water. It could be that the green threads in the photo are agar-agar with food coloring, but then I don't know where the seaweed part of the salad is.

Photos here


Where can I find wakame in thread form?

posted by allelopath to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

try looking for "chuka wakame". I don't know exactly the difference, if it's literally a different cultivar or something or more mature plant, but it is more like your photo. "chuka" (中華) just means "Chinese" in Japanese and is referring to the seasoning itself, not the type of plant, I think. but there's a lot of packaged pre-seasoned products that look like your photo, maybe that's what the co-op is using in bulk
posted by okonomichiyaki at 2:50 PM on July 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Thanks for the keyword "chuka". Looks like this is the bulk stuff
4.4 gallons, that's a lot. Now to see if I can find just the weed.
posted by falsedmitri at 3:01 PM on July 31, 2022

I believe what you're looking for is kuki wakame 茎わかめ ("stem" wakame)

IME, "wakame" usually refers to the leafy kind by default, and you have to specify "kuki" or get it as part of a blend for kaisou sarada 海藻サラダ ("seaweed salad") to get the stemmy kind.

This is one of the mixes I've tried. Take a look at the photo of the blend; the kuki wakame is on the left: https://item.rakuten.co.jp/kyunan/seaweed-salad/
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 3:10 PM on July 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Addendum: some info on seaweed salad as known in the US and a[n alternative] recipe from Just One Cookbook
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 3:17 PM on July 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Just realized you might also be referring to mekabu めかぶ, which is another ingredient of the seaweed mix I posted earlier. (This is usually a "crunchier" type)
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 3:26 PM on July 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Apologies for commenting so much, but I realized it was unclear which photo I was referring to in the earlier link:

This is the photo with the various seaweed components: https://image.rakuten.co.jp/kyunan/cabinet/sea/sea-salad/lp8.jpg The kuki is the leftmost one (thready); the mekabu is immediately below it.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 3:34 PM on July 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks! I've ordered some mekabu.
Searching for kuki I see only personal care products. Hmph
posted by falsedmitri at 5:50 PM on July 31, 2022

Found a good introductory explainer (with photos and diagram) of Wakame vs Kuki Wakame vs Mekabu

(TLDR: same plant, different parts, with different textures and uses)
(The reference page linked at the bottom is in Japanese only but contains more photos and details about seasonal variations, cooking/prep methods to get certain textures, etc)

As Just One Cookbook says, the seaweed salad known in US restaurants contains a mix of the kuki and mekabu parts. Depending on your location, you may have to look through seaweed blends at your local Japanese/Asian supermarket or find a reliable online source...
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:57 PM on July 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fun fact: Seaweed isn't a plant! It's algae.
posted by Text TK at 6:52 AM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Text TK, the Japanese phrase for this kind of "seaweed salad" literally translates to "sea algae salad" (the 藻 sou is "algae") :)
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 2:49 PM on August 1, 2022