This is what I've been up to lately! They are so full of nutrients and minerals and have a ton of calcium (great for J and I) so I thought I'd give it a try. You can use kelp, dulse, and various kombus with beans to aid their digestion. Long simmering kelp and dulse will dissolve in soups and stews.
Nori: Dark purple-black color that turns phosphorescent green when toasted, famous for its role in making veggie sushi rolls. Also sold in single, slightly sweetened, toasted strips for snacking-a convenient form to add to your lunch. Simply crumble and use to season soup, salads, etc.
Kelp: Light brown to dark green in color, available in flake form. Also sold in powdered form and makes a great seasoning to have on the table.
Hijiki: Looks like small strands of black wiry pasta and has a strong flavor. Great simply soaked and served raw in Asian-flavored salads.
Kombu: Very dark in color and generally sold in strips or sheets, oftentimes used as a flavoring for soups. To greatly enhance beans' digestibility and prevent gas, add a strip of kombu to the pot when cooking beans.
Wakame: Green and silky when soaked. Most commonly used to make Japanese miso soup.
Arame: This lacy, wiry sea vegetable is sweeter and milder in taste than many others, and can be integrated in salads as well as hijiki.
Dulse: Soft, chewy texture and a reddish-brown color. A great addition to soups.
Unlike salt, you can cook beans with a sea vegetable right from the start. Silly me, I had no idea you need to wait till the very end to add salt to your beans when cooking or they just won't soften....Or you can just skip the salt, (as sea veggies natural sodium content makes sea vegetable dishes quite tasty without). J loves adzuki beans that have been cooked with Wakame sea veggie! Oh my, this baby is going to be so much healthier than I was....
