The majority of us prefer to associate a “plant-based diet” with fashionable meat substitutes or dishes like kale salads and grain bowls. However, Superfood Seaweed is one non-meat alternative that is gaining popularity as the newest superfood.
Superfood Seaweed is edible, including the brownish-green ribbons and bundles of sea plant-like debris that wash up on beaches. The most popular and well-known seaweed is probably nori, the papery sheets used to wrap sushi rolls and as a decoration for ramen bowls, but these big, green algae exist in hundreds of vibrant variations, including wakame, kombu, red dulse, and sugar kelp.
Seaweed supports other marine life and helps to keep the water around it clean. It may supplement our meals with additional nutrients and minerals when it is dry.
Know about Cheap Home Cooking Ideas for Healthy Eating.
Beneficial for Both People and the Environment
Seaweed is a one-stop shop for all of the essential nutrients that humans need. The University of Maine’s Mary Ellen Camire, a professor of food science and human nutrition, said that seaweed is a fantastic source of dietary fiber and minerals.
According to a recent study, seaweed contains a number of vitamins, including B, C, E, and K, omega-3 fatty acids, protein, amino acids, polyphenols, and 10 times more minerals than land-based plants, though nutritional profiles differ slightly between green, brown, and red varieties. These necessary minerals include calcium, iodine, and iron.
Seaweeds can concentrate all the essential minerals in the open sea that we are unable to access, according to Redmond. They serve as a kind of balancing food by allowing us to reintroduce certain trace elements to our diets and bodies.
Seaweed can also replenish those crucial nutrients in the soil when used as fertilizer in land-based farming, thereby enhancing the soil’s health.
How to include seaweed in regular meals
Now that you’ve read this, you may be persuaded that seaweed is edible. But you are not required to forage for it, nor would you want to. Because “certain species of seaweed are more likely to carry heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and arsenic,” Camire advised consumers to ensure the seaweed items they purchase are either certified organic or tested for their heavy metal level.
There are a number of methods to include edible seaweed in your diet, other than consuming a lot of temaki rolls and marketed seaweed snacks or adding additional nori sheets to your ramen.
Italian kelp and Red Bay seasoning, which can be sprinkled on anything from popcorn to garlic toast, are made from kelp that has been air dried and ground into powder by Springtide Seaweed. Any cuisine that calls for sautéing kale or other leafy greens may benefit from the addition of dried kelp ribbons. We work to make seaweed simple for individuals to utilize and include into their diets, according to Redmond.
You want kelp for breakfast, right? Another seaweed manufacturer in Maine, Atlantic Sea Farms, adds kelp to frozen smoothie cubes along with antioxidant-rich fruits like cranberries and blueberries. Try some of their kelp-based kimchi if you’re in the mood for something hot. Add some Alaska’s Barnacle Foods kelp hot sauce to amp up the heat.
If you’d rather have your seaweed grilled, Akua also offers kelp burgers and ground kelp that can be turned into meatballs, added to tacos, or used anyplace else that ground meat is often served.
