Available from:
Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, Inc.
Franklin, ME 04634
(207) 565-2907
$14.95
Good for Man & Beast
I have always wondered about Maine seaweed, living as I do along the coast. I am already a sometime purchaser and consumer of various seaweeds, but most of what I eat comes in colorful Korean or Japanese plastic pack, imported at some not insignificant cost. Here in Maine, with such an obvious abundance of the stuff literally just lying around, I thought, how come I can’t seem to find and prepare local product? With the classic Euell Gibbons book “Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop” in hand, I have occasionally sought out a few pieces of wild Irish Moss to nibble on, but this never led to any real consumption. Incorporating Maine-made sea vegetable products into a family diet requires for me a handy package, available at the local supermarket, as well as good simple recipes that can be prepared without undue soaking or scavenging for exotic ingredients available only at some back alley stand somewhere near the bus station in Boston. With the publication of this cookbook, and their suite of local products, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables now answers both of these practical requirements.
The book starts with a significant amount of sea vegetable background material, outlining in detail not only ten local seaweed species, but including as well a succinct nutritional breakdown and a history of seaweed consumption, mentioning not only the 10,000-year-old consumption habits of the far East but also, surprisingly, Irish and Scottish seaweed gathering. Numerous health benefits are mentioned, running the gamut from reducing hypertension to making your dog healthier. On the latter topic, a number of Maine made seaweed products are directed specifically to the pet market, something I never knew, although my own dog does regularly chew on kelp and other beach vegetation (along with anything else on the beach that was ever alive, no matter how long ago). For more information on pet applications, links are provided from the website listed below. Various uses of seaweed products are also recommended for the health of houseplants, as well as for skin and hair hygiene. While the authors are not afraid to mention themselves in the text, gratefully the book is not simply a vehicle for self-promotion, so they mention alternatives, and generally regard the seaweed as a natural product they happen to sell, rather than as a prepared product they have some exclusivity over, as some cookbooks do (“Use one 12.5 ounce can of Uncle Jimmy’s Special Unique Sauce …”)
I tried out the Putanesca Sauce with Laver seaweed recipe, served over spaghetti, and found that the seaweed in fact does make a good substitute for salty anchovies, resulting in a healthy and filling sauce, albeit one that I enjoyed before trying this variation. I also found the ingredients for most of the recipes, including the seaweed, to be easily available at the local market, even though I must confess to never having noticed them before. I also made up a pot of Basic Miso Soup, long a morning staple of fishermen in Japan and one of the classic recipes of the book. I made it, as requested, with Maine Alaria seaweed, and found it to be easy to prepare, and far superior to powdered packaged miso soups, a difference no doubt attributable to the foot-long hunk of alaria I chucked in.
My only complaint about the recipe selections is that they are all vegetarian. This is by intent a declared vegetarian cookbook, so of course this focus comes as no surprise, but being an omnivore myself I would appreciate some good recipes combining local seaweed with other seasonal fruits of the sea. For example, I remember a great dried fish and seaweed soup in Korea, and have also enjoyed an excellent sort of seaweed sandwich made with rice and local crab. The clean and salty flavors of the products lend themselves well to combining with any number of fish, and I think that for greater public utilization, a few suggestions of how to incorporate local seaweeds with a fat fresh mackerel, say, or in a nice haddock chowder, would go a long way towards making these healthy products everyday parts of the local diet.