2. Versatility
Bauman’s chef-students are given a full-day course on sea vegetables. Instructors load trays with brown varieties such as arame, hijiki, kombu and kelp; red versions such as nori and dulse; and thickeners such as agar-agar. The students are then taught culinary uses, including wakame for pickling, nori for wraps, agar-agar to make a gelatin, and dulse to smoke as a bacon substitute. “It can add a seafood flavor, an umami taste,” Jardine says.
On the East Coast, Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, has been using sea vegetables for more than five years. Kelp is featured in eight recipes in Bowdoin’s menu cycle, including in a kelp noodle dish with local mussels, a carrot and kelp soup, and a Maine sea slaw with kelp, says Sourcing and Menu Manager Matthew Caiazzo.