Wakame In Soup!

Last night I made a fairly normal pot of vegetable chicken soup. But instead of adding land greens (like spinach or chard) at the end like I would normally do, I added wakame for an iodine and vitamin boost. It was super easy. Here's what I did:

1. Rinsed under cold water 5 pieces of dried wakame
2. Soaked the pieces in a bowl of water for 20 minutes
3. Drained the bowl and removed the wakame- it really grew in size!
4. Cut out the midrib (its distinctive and harder than the rest of the frond)
5. Cut the wakame into bite size pieces
6. Added it to the soup when it had 15 minutes left to cook

The soup smelled a little bit more "sea-like," but I didn't notice any difference in the taste. I really liked the texture + color of the wakame. I could have saved the soaking water to add to the broth, but I wasn't sure if it would jive with my soup recipe.

Hello My Name Is: Wakame

Images from algaebase.org

Wakame, (meaning "young girl" ) (Wa-KAMAY) like all sea vegetables is a type of algae. Wakame is specifically a type of (edible) kelp. that's been grown for centuries by Korean and Japanese sea-farmers. Its blades are 2 to 4 feet long. Wakame is extensively used in miso soup.

Aliases: Alaria Marginata, Undaria pinnatifida,

Growing habitat: Wakame is native to Japan and thrives in turbulent waters. The plants will grow up to 20" long in water up to 40' deep. Harvesting is mostly in the spring from boats with the use of a rake or pole.

Nutrition: Wakame has high levels of protein, calcium, iodine, magnesium, iron and folate. It is close in nutritional value to Kombu.

Uses: Can be put in soups or used in salads; used in miso soup; roasted; deep fried; or eaten fresh. Like Kombu, it can also be used to aid with softening other foods (like beans).

Preparation: Rinse under cold water and soak dried wakame in a bowl of water to rehydrate for about 30 minutes (note: will grow about 10 times of what it was dried) until soft. Remove from water and reserve water for broth — the water contains a lot of nutrients. Cut out the central vein(rib) and chop according to recipe.

Recipes:
Cucumber and Wakame Seaweed Salad (Sunomono)
Seaweed Salad
Miso Soup
Cool Weather Miso Soup