Seaweed in the Kitchen

Although seaweed is now all the rage, because we have been reading about and eating Japanese food, it has long been an important ingredient in Britain too, even if many of us don't recognize it as such. Just think of laver bread. Seaweed suppliers are becoming easier to find, but if you need some really quickly, a walk on your local beach will deliver the goods just as well. Fi Bird is nothing if not enthusiastic. She lives in the Hebrides and has written her own guide to foraging. In addition she is super-keen on teaching children to cook. This, her second book, combines these three elements: the Hebrides because seaweed runs amok there; foraging, because she lives in the midst of a natural larder; teaching, because she has written a fine set of intelligent and properly tested recipes. The book has four strands: an account of seaweed species that flourish here; a discussion of our use of seaweed over time, and in regional cookery; an assessment of the physical properties of seaweed and how they might contribute to a healthful diet; and a set of recipes. These last are not merely for boiling up dulse, or steaming kelp, but offer imaginative solutions to incorporating seaweed into our daily fare: brown bread ice-cream, fudge, curry (yes, curry!), dried seaweed biscuits, seaweed seasoning powder, water biscuits with rock samphire, seaweed croutons, seaweed treacle tart, and many more.