How do we NOT snack on seaweed?

January 8, 2023 7:04 PM

I have access to a bewildering number of seaweeds, and a family that will eat it non-stop. We want to add it to rice and porridge regularly, but the snack-type seaweed vanishes from our pantry too fast. I want to buy seaweed in bulk that is not for snacking but can instead be added to meals as flavouring. What names am I looking for? (Prev AskMeFi: How do I snack on seaweed?)
posted by dorothyisunderwood to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

Best answer: Kombu is a pretty common one to add to broths as a flavoring (most people consider it too tough to eat on it's own, I think it's VERY CHEWY but fine). Comes in big thick sheets.

Hijiki is a good one to add to salads and whatnot (fine shreds)

Nori is the kind that you use for sushi, it is the same kind known as laver in English (most of these don't seem to have an equivalent name in English)

Wakame is the finely shredded kind that goes into miso soup

These are the kinds in my pantry right now, the kinds that you can acquire from a reasonably well-stocked "Asian" grocery store in the US. You can find even more kinds at Uwajimaya or other specialty Japanese grocers. I also recommend getting into dried funguses.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 7:10 PM on January 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Get some dry kombu, it's great flavor but (almost) nobody wants to eat that as a snack bc it's very hard and sharp until it's simmered for a while.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:11 PM on January 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh, and if you do want to be a weirdo seaweed snacker, I recommend wrapping nori sheets around string cheese. The flavor combination is extra umami.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 7:12 PM on January 8, 2023 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Yes, kombu is what you're looking for. But you could also get some furikake, which is a salty Japanese seasoning that typically contains nori. It's not impossible to snack on, but it would be, at least, unintuitive.
posted by spiderbeforesunset at 7:22 PM on January 8, 2023 [4 favorites]

You're looking for the loose-flakes Korean style ones. There are more barriers to enjoying it fully as a snack (a mouthful is unsatisfying, would need to eat it with a spoon), and usually pictures on the front depict it sitting elegantly on a mound of rice, so when you see the packet there's a visual reminder that this is not for shoving straight in your gob. You can buy it in bulk in a way that's harder with furikake.
posted by womb of things to be and tomb of things that were at 7:28 PM on January 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

What you really want is furikake, which is a seaweed seasoning (along with other spices/sesame seeds). Put it on rice, popcorn, in your scrambled eggs, on potatoes, on roast chicken. Anywhere you want some umami seaweed flavor.

There are lots of brands and combinations. Get a bunch and find one you like.
posted by brookeb at 7:46 PM on January 8, 2023 [6 favorites]

In terms of sheer simplicity, FYI Trader Joe's sells furikake.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:55 PM on January 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Adding onto my shopping list! And I’m in Singapore, so the Asian names are no obstacle for finding them.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:22 PM on January 8, 2023

Ao-nori is what's sprinkled on okonomiyaki and is delicious and different from "regular" nori. Tons of umami—it only comes as flakes you sprinkle, so you'd have to be very determined to snack on it.
posted by O9scar at 10:31 PM on January 8, 2023

Best answer: If you want some seaweed volume I think dried wakame is your sweet spot -- not subject to snacking attack, but super quick to toss in soup or hydrate and add to anything. I think of it like frozen spinach but not in the freezer, and tastier.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:40 AM on January 9, 2023

In case you have a well-stocked store servicing the Irish community, ask for
Porphyra umbilicalis. Common names: Sleabhcán, (Irish); Laver, Slack (English), bara lawr (Welsh) = nori
Palmaria palmata. Common names: dulse, dillisk, sea lettuce flakes, or creathnach (Irish)
Laminaria saccharina syn. Saccharina latissima. Common names: sweet kelp = kombu
Chondrus crispus. Common names: Irish moss or carrageen moss.
Tayto crispus is another product entirely
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:31 AM on January 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

So nori is laver dried into sheets but you can also get just dried laver that hasn’t been sheetified. It’s less good for snacking but better for cooking/sprinkling because it doesn’t disintegrate in the same way.
posted by goingonit at 3:17 AM on January 9, 2023

But you could also get some furikake, which is a salty Japanese seasoning that typically contains nori. It's not impossible to snack on, but it would be, at least, unintuitive.

I snack on furikake sometimes so it might not necessarily deter fellow seaweed fiends, but yeah nthing this as a good substitute!
posted by creatrixtiara at 9:11 PM on January 11, 2023

Response by poster: I marked the things we bought and ended up adding to our rotation, but yes you can still eat furikake straight from the box, and we are still looking to bulk buy the seaweed brand they love. But it is super nice to add to the rice and noodles and I also ended up realising there are more than one type of miso, so we are a happy unami house!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 12:41 AM on February 18, 2023