Sure, peas and carrots are nutritious and all, but according to cookbook author Jill Gusman, they're merely " land vegetables." In Vegetables from the Sea, she offers recipes for such exotica as kombu, wakame and bullwhip kelp. These veggies, which many people might call, well, seaweed, are a mainstay of Japanese cuisine and packed with minerals and disease-fighting antioxidant vitamins. Dulse, which Gusman uses to make Irish soda muffins, has a deep burgundy hue and a smoky flavor, and hijiki, which she puts on crostini, is jet black and sweet. Home cooks can find edible seaweeds in dehydrated form in health- and specialty-food shops. But don't scour the beach for your dinner. The seaweed that washes ashore is probably decayed or contaminated.
By Janice M. Horowitz
Time Magazine, Jun. 23, 2003
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