Seaweed: healthy or not? With 8 seaweed recipes!

1. It is one of the countless foods that we have started to eat explosively in the Netherlands: seaweed. Originally it entered our country with sushi and other Japanese dishes, but now you can also see salads, snacks and other dishes with seaweed popping up everywhere. It is therefore also called the vegetable of the future.

1. Seaweed is easy to grow, is packed with nutrients and it is tasty! But is seaweed healthy or are there any catches in the grass? And how do you prepare it in the most delicious way? In this article, we'll give you some general information about the vegetables of the future and we'll give you 8 tasty seaweed recipes for inspiration.

Is seaweed healthy?

1. The rapid advance of seaweed is partly due to its delicious salty taste. A more important reason, however, is that more and more people are touting it as the next superfood. The question is of course: is that right?

1. In short: yes, seaweed is incredibly healthy! It is of course important that you eat it in moderation, but that applies to any food. Below we have listed the many advantages and some disadvantages for you.

Lots of nutrients

1. We can at least start with good news: seaweed contains an incredible amount of nutrients. Scientists have found no less than 39 different nutrients in the small water plants! For example, seaweed contains a lot of protein, which makes it an excellent meat substitute in, for example, seaweed burgers or kelp pasta.

1. Then there are a number of important minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, iodine and sodium. There is also a lot of iron in seaweed, and chlorophyll, a substance that helps your body to absorb iron and magnesium better. The 39 substances in seaweed together make up about 36% of the average human body weight - and yet the food contains hardly any calories!

Good for digestion

1. One of the beneficial effects of seaweed relates to food and nutrient processing. It contains the substance alginate, which causes digestion to slow down somewhat.

1. As a result, essential substances can be better absorbed by the intestinal wall, so that your intestines generally remain a lot healthier when you eat seaweed regularly.

A healthy thyroid gland

1. As mentioned, seaweed also contains a lot of iodine, a substance that has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the thyroid gland. This organ is essential for the functioning of your body: it ensures the production of countless hormones which in turn are responsible for all kinds of other bodily processes.

Less risk of cardiovascular disease

1. Seaweeds also have a good influence on the health of your heart and blood vessels. The fibers lower blood pressure, and seaweed also lowers cholesterol levels. This way you significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease if you eat seaweed regularly.

1. The above benefits show that seaweed is very healthy and that it has all kinds of benefits if you eat seaweed regularly. A small warning: keep an eye on the portion size, especially if you are very sensitive to certain minerals.

Lots of potassium

1. Seaweed contains enormous amounts of potassium, which can cause heart problems for people with kidney problems if they eat too much of it. Also with seaweed supplements, overdoses can be unhealthy. Don't let that put you off, though: if you continue to enjoy it in moderation, seaweed can bring significant health benefits! And if you don't have kidney problems, the amount of potassium in seaweed isn't a problem.

Be careful with dried seaweed

1. In many Dutch supermarkets is mainly dried seaweed, such as the well-known nori that are often used for sushi. Are they as healthy as the fresh varieties? In general, yes, as they still contain the same abundance of nutrients.

1. However, there is a small comment to be made: some brands add all kinds of less healthy substances to seaweed and seaweed snacks, such as sugar or salt. You better ignore such products. So make sure you always check the ingredients list before you put something in your shopping cart!

Buy seaweed

1. Nowadays more and more types of seaweed are available in the supermarket. This concerns dried types, such as nori sheets, but also fresh wakame, for example. However, there are many more types of seaweed. Many of these are not (yet) on the shelves of large supermarkets.

1. You can often find more seaweed types in health food stores, toko's and organic supermarkets. Some fishmongers also have seaweed in their range. Finally, dried seaweed varieties in particular are often also available online.

1. Nori is the most famous type of seaweed in the Netherlands. The Dutch know it mainly from the skins that surround sushi. It is therefore available in most supermarkets on the world kitchen shelf, among the sushi ingredients. Nori has a relatively sweet taste and is delicious in all kinds of dishes, more than just sushi!

1. Kombu is a type of seaweed that is mainly eaten in Northeast Asia, for example in Japan and Korea, but also in China. It has a meaty flavor, which makes it very popular as a meat substitute. When roasted it even tastes like bacon! Kombu is not yet available in many supermarkets, but you can probably find it at local shops or in organic supermarkets.

1. Wakame is a type of seaweed that is mainly used in Japanese cuisine. It is known for its sweet taste, which reminds many people of the sea. It is very popular in salad, but is also often used in soup. Wakame is for sale in supermarkets with a large assortment, but it is easier to find in a toko or organic supermarket.

1. Arame is found in the sea around Japan as well as in South America. You can find it in Asian shops or organic supermarkets. Aroma is often sold pre-cooked, but it is best to soak it before use and then simmer, steam, stir-fry or wok. It is a versatile type of seaweed that is delicious in all kinds of dishes, but also tastes good as a snack. It has a sweet taste that is slightly nutty.

Seaweed recipes

1. Well, you concluded that seaweed is healthy, you bought it, and it's dinner time. What now? To inspire you, we have listed eight types of seaweed recipes and seaweed products below, so that you can also enjoy the benefits of the vegetables of the future!

1. At the Albert Heijn you can buy the seaweed tagliatelle from Seamore. This paste is made from 100% seaweed, with all the associated benefits. You eat a lot less of it than regular pasta, because the many fibers fill up very quickly. It is therefore also a relatively low-calorie product.

1. For example, you can serve seaweed pasta with a cream sauce and a piece of salmon. But you can also mix it with zucchini and your favorite tomato sauce. On the Seamore website you will find many more recipes and inspiration!

1. Wakame is a slightly sweet-salty seaweed that makes excellent salads. In some supermarkets you can even find wakame salads ready-made. However, you can also make it yourself by flavoring wakame with sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds. You can eat wakame salad as a side dish, but wakame is also great for adding flavor to meal salads.

1. You can buy ready-made seaweed chips, but you can also easily make them yourself. All you need is nori, some olive oil, and an oven. Grease nori sheets on one side with olive oil and place them greasy sides together. Cut into pieces. Then brush the (not greased) outside with some water, so that they become soft.

1. You now only have to put the nori in an oven at 180 degrees for 2-3 minutes. Have you kept them a little longer and are they no longer crunchy? Then they are delicious again with just a minute in the oven!

1. Making your own vegetarian stock can be quite a challenge. Without meat, you have to find other seasonings to flavor everything properly. Seaweed is a final option for that! With a few sheets of nori or other salty seaweed in your soup, the stock will quickly absorb a lot of flavor.

1. Love pesto, and in need of some variety? Try making seaweed pesto yourself. Mix 40 grams of kombu with 50 grams of pine nuts, 30 grams of basil, 30 grams of arugula, olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and pepper and keep in the refrigerator for max. 5 days.

1. Tired of all the â € ˜standardâ € ™ veggie burgers? You can also find various ready-to-eat seaweed burgers in the shop! The Dutch Weed Burger, for example, but also the Zeeland Seaweed Burger with seaweed from the Oosterschelde.

1. You can serve the seaweed burger in all kinds of ways, for example with grilled vegetables or lemon mayonnaise. And of course a seaweed salad is always delicious!

1. Seaweed and mushrooms are an unexpectedly good combination. You can therefore use seaweed to give a 'boring' side dish such as fried mushrooms a little more flavor. Take 30 grams of arame and let it soak for ten minutes.

1. Fry an onion and briefly fry a bowl of mushrooms. Then add the seaweed with a little soaking water and let it simmer for ten minutes. Finally, season with some soy sauce and sesame to taste if desired.

1. Finally of course the seaweed recipe under the seaweed recipes: sushi. You can go for the â € sushistandardâ € ™ sushi, which you roll into nori sheets and cut into slices. But nori can also be used in all kinds of other creative seaweed recipes.

1. Consider, for example, a sushi salad, in which you use all the ingredients of sushi for a salad. Or a sushi bowl or poké bowl, in which the seaweed is an important seasoning. Or even sushi soup, with coconut milk, wasabi and nori as signature ingredients!