Seaweed tartare Easy aperitif recipe full of benefits

A seaweed tartare is a very easy aperitif recipe to make and full of health benefits. Use a mixture of seaweed (sea lettuce, dulce, nori) dried or fresh.

I talk to you about nutritional contributions, explain how to choose your seaweed, fresh or dried, how to make and season your tartare and also how to serve it. My favorite way, on slices of cucumber or zucchini as in the photos.

The benefits of seaweed

They are low calories and contain vegetable proteins as well as numerous antioxidants, fiber, iodine, polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega 3, vitamins, minerals (iron, calcium magnesium, etc.)… Sea vegetables with very interesting nutritional benefits.

Algae also contains umami. You have undoubtedly already heard of this 5th flavor (which complements sweet, salty, bitter, sour). With the name coming from Japan, umami has a particular power over satiety helping to regulate food intake.

To give you some figures on their virtues:

• 10 g of green algae per day provide us with more than 70% of our magnesium needs and more than half of our iron needs. But also proteins, calcium, iodine, vitamins B12.
• Dulce red algae provides DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega 3 very valuable for the brain and heart. It also contains vitamins A, B12 and C, potassium, proteins, etc.
• The kombu contains 20% vitamins and minerals (5 times more iron than spinach), calcium in large quantities (5 to 8 times more than milk) and a protein level similar to that of eggs.
• The wakame It is a calcium concentrate with 13 times more calcium than in milk per 100 grams. Note that vegetable calcium is better assimilated than calcium from dairy products.

Which algae to choose?

Ideally mix 2 to 3 varieties of seaweed to make your tartare, or buy a ready-made mixture.
Algae are classified into 3 categories according to their color: green algae, red algae and brown algae.

The most commonly used algae are:

• Sea lettuce also called sea salad is a green algae called Ulva or Ulva lactuca.
• Dulce also called cowweed it’s funny is a red algae called Palmaria palmata.
• Wakame or sea fern is a green algae imported from Asia which now grows in Brittany but rarely in the wild.
• Nori or Porphyra umbilicalis. By the way in Japanese nori means seaweed and does not refer to a variety of seaweed.
• Kombu or laminar

Where to find the algae?

You have several options. The two main fresh or dried seaweed. They also exist frozen, with salt or vinegar.

Fresh seaweed

If you are by the sea, in Brittany for example, and you know where and how to harvest fresh seaweed from the seathat’s the ideal.

Please note, there are some precautions to take:

• First of all be careful and well check the weather, tide coefficients and times before leaving so as not to find yourself trapped.
• Also check the health status of the beach that you are targeting on the government website.
• Equip yourself well in shoes, clothes and have a bucket and a pair of scissors so as not to tear out the roots of the algae.
• Know the varieties of algaes and their best level of maturity and harvest environment. Or be accompanied by someone who knows. I went on an outing years ago on the pink granite coast of Brittany with Régine Queva who created the algae crunchers conservatory for this type of activity and the Food’Algues information site, it was fascinating. I’m looking for the photos to add them to this article but I can’t find the date!

There are good practices for harvesting algae :

• It’s necessary cut the algae with scissors so as not to tear it off the “roots” (so leave the stipe and the holdfast) because some live for several years, but also cut at a certain height and not at ground level to leave part of the blade (or frond) which is the name of the leaf.
• We must harvest only fixed algae and not those adrift.
• Finally, don’t raid a bunch of algae but leave part of it intact so that the groves regenerate.
• There is more certain specificities depending on the varieties (at low tide during certain coefficients, in certain seasons, favor young shoots, etc.).

Dried seaweed

Another solution used here: dried seaweed that you will rehydrate.
You can find them in organic stores, for mail order sales on certain websites.
For my part, I buy them from a producer who sells them on the markets in Brittany. When I go to Perros-Guirec, I buy several glitter seaweed bags which are ready to use.

These dried seaweeds are sold by variety or the most often mixed. Mine is called iroise salad and is a mix of sea lettuce, dulce and nori.

All that’s left to do is rehydrate them either with a little lukewarm water or with one of the ingredients used in the recipe (olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, etc.).
For a seaweed tartare, I make a mix with a ratio of 4 tablespoons of dried seaweed to 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a little water.

What seasoning and variations

For my recipe I opt for quite strong seasonings to give character to the seaweed tartare: capers and gherkins, garlic and shallot, olive oil and a little water also to rehydrate the algae.
In addition I offer you a little balsamic vinegar (or cider vinegar) and of Dijon mustard (which you can replace with lemon juice).
If you wish, you can add these ingredients in half to start, taste and adjust according to your personal taste.

Treat yourself, the variations are endless :
Add spices (turmeric, curry, Espelette pepper, etc.), ginger fresh grated, diced dried tomatoes, candied lemon, sunflower seeds…
Look at the recipes that I offer you to see how to make the tartare and adapt according to your tastes or desires.

How long to keep seaweed tartare?

I would say a week in the refrigerator. There is a lot of oil which makes preservation easier.

As an aperitif tasted:

• on toasts of bread possibly lightly toasted or homemade crackers like my crispbreads with mixtures of seeds and rye flour.
• You can also opt for a more plant-based version that goes wonderfully: cut slices of raw cucumber or zucchini and use it as a support to spread the seaweed tartare. It’s a perfect combination.

Seaweed tartare can also be used like a sort of condiment in a sandwichwith a mixture of raw vegetables or sprinkled on a mixed salad.

Finally you can suggest to accompany a dish like fish in foil or grilled in the oven.

Source documents from Régine Quéva.

For lovers of fresh algae, I recommend a salad made with another product that looks like algae but is not algae, samphire.