Nettie's

Agar is a vegetarian source of gelatin made from seaweed. It is sold as flakes, powder, and in bars or sticks. It is colourless, odorless and tasteless. It dissolves best in hot liquids and gels faster with refrigeration. I use it in desserts, puddings, aspics, salads and fillings.

Wakame is a dark green sea vegetable. To reconstitute, soak it until soft, usually 15 minutes. Drain saving the soaking water for soup. Wakame will swell to about 5 times its dry size. After soaking, cut out the central rib. Chop the rib very fine and cut the soft part of the leaf into bite […]

Nori (aka laver) is a sea vegetable that has been dried and pressed into sheets. It is used to wrap rice balls or as the exterior covering of sushi rolls (Japanese raw fish rolls). High quality nori sheets are greenish-black in colour. Nori is often crumbled or cut into strips and used as a garnish. […]

Kombu is an essential ingredient in the making of Japanese soup stock called Dashi. A strip of kombu cooked with water releases glutamic acid and mineral salts which contribute a lot of flavour to your stock. Do not wipe away the white powdery coating. It is sold dried in flat sheets or in strips. I […]

Long before the development of agriculture, coastal peoples harvested a variety of nutritious vegetables from the sea. Though sea vegetables are used in many countries, their use in Japan has been the most popular. The seaweed industry there dates back to the 14th century. The actual farming of sea vegetables began in the 1700’s in […]