Hello, 2023 Seaweed Harvesting Season!

We are getting excited to start our 2023 seaweed harvesting season! There are less than 45 possible low tides during the daytime, and we usually harvest around 35 days. We harvest about 100 pounds of wet seaweed per day, which ends up being close to 10 pounds of dried seaweed. We harvest 11 types of seaweeds, so the math says we have to be efficient and safe to get all of the seaweeds we will need for YOU, our customers!

Nori is the first harvest of the season. Nori, also known as Porphyra perforate or lanceolata, is a RED seaweed and only one cell wall thick! This means you get LOTS of nutrients riding on this wonderful seaweed… Nori is the highest of all seaweeds in protein (50% by weight) and high in iron and Vit. B12.  We harvest our Wild Winter Nori in March and April, so we can capture all of the nutrients before the seaweed goes beyond its prime. You can taste the difference in our Nori, as we rinse only in the ocean, never using fresh water.

Think about this…, since Nori is only one cell wall thick, you don’t want to wash the nutrients off of it- like you see in all the neatly packaged small nori snacks in the grocery store. These snacks also have salt, oil, and sometimes sugar added to bring the flavor back into a seaweed devoid of any nutritional benefit. Nori is easy to make a part of your daily meals. The first thing you can do is place your Nori on a cookie sheet and heat your oven to warm. Pop the Nori into the oven and let it crisp for 10-15 minutes. You can tell it is ready to crinkle up when you put a piece into your hand and can crunch it into flakes!

Once the seaweed texture changes to “crunchy,” it is SO easy to use in anything you please! These Nori flakes can be used on top of salads, soups, rice and noodle dishes, or added to a miso broth, to name a few ideas.

I have added an old favorite recipe to this post, and I hope you enjoy finding ways to use Nori! 

Stay tuned for our Seaweed Foraging Class Dates!

Happy Spring!

Terry and the Ocean Harvest Crew

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Nori Tempura

Serves 6-8

Vegan

Ingredients

• 1 cup or 1-ounce dried nori
• ¼ t baking soda
• ½ cup plant milk (or water)
• 1 onion- diced
• 1 clove Garlic crushed
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 egg substitute- optional
• 1-2 T soy or tamari sauce (to taste)
• 2/3 cup cooking oil
• Hot sauce or hot oil (to taste)
• Sliced carrots, sweet potatoes, small broccoli pieces, and other handy vegetables to cook in batter.

Instructions

1. Combine flour and baking soda, then add milk and egg (optional).
2. Add soy sauce and hot sauce. Mix batter.
3. Break nori into small pieces (I like to cut my nori with scissors). Stir pieces into the batter. The nori will absorb moisture in the batter and swell as you cut and add the onion and other vegetables. The batter is basically a thin pancake batter. As nori absorbs moisture and flavor, the mixture becomes a gooey mass. Fear not!
4. To fry, pick out with chopsticks, fork, or fingers small amounts and deep-fry two or three pieces at a time in hot oil until just beyond golden brown and crisp on both sides.
5. Remove with chopsticks or forks, drain, and serve immediately as an appetizer or as a main dish with rice. (Use your favorite dip to dip the nori in!)