Nori -
The Tasty and Ocean Fortified Super Seaweed!

Nori (Porphyra tenera) is by far the most popular seaweed known. Popularized in Japan where it grows abundantly, this classification of "red seaweed" has been used in sushi and foods around the world.

Originally it was formed as a paste, and then the "sheet" was invented in Tokyo, in the Edo period through the method of Japanese paper-making. Japan produces more, both in quantity and variety, than any other country in the world. The early Japanese ate it raw, as early as the 7th century.

It is one of my favorite seaweeds to wildcraft when seaweed harvesting on the California coast. It develops a sweet taste and fragrance, perfumy aroma when I open a jar of dried and freshly gathered seaweed.

I love to add whole pieces of it to raw soups or sometimes will rip up sheets of it, if that is all I have, and use in a tempeh dish.

Raw sheets are darker in color and more nutrient dense than the toasted bright green variety. I have not experimented yet with making dried sheets when harvesting seaweed but someday soon I will.

We often use the raw seaweed sheets for wrapping up all kinds of raw food delights from raw veggies, super sprouts, fermented foods (like sauerkraut and our sauerkraut recipes ) combined with our delicious seed cheese recipes, using nuts and seeds for protein.

We use it in our healthy cooking recipes with quinoa instead of rice.

A great way to use seaweed is to substitute it for flour based tortilla or bread product.

Nutritional Benefits:

Nori is rich in the amino acids:

• alaline
• aspartic acid
• glutamic acid
• glycine

Especially in the following:

• Vitamin A
• B 1
• B 2
• Niacin
• Vitamin C
• B12
• B5
• eicosapentanoic acid - Omega 3 fatty acids
• choline -essential nutrient

Kids love it too! Wrap up with a spread of miso, avocado, cucumber, and dulse! They will ask for more!

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