Sunday 7 March 2010

Dulse, a sea vegetable for good health;




I mix Dulse flakes into my home made herb salt. I use whatever herbs are in season and grow my herb garden. I do not use any commercial flavourings like stock cubes etc.

Palmaria palmata, Dulse, sea lettuce flakes is a red alga (Rhodophyta). It grows on the northern coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a well-known snack food, and in Iceland, where it is known as söl, it has been an important source of fibre throughout the centuries.

The earliest record of this species is of St Columba's monks harvesting it 1,400 years ago.

Dulse grows attached by its discoid hold fast to the stipes of Laminaria or to rocks. It has a short stipe, the fronds are variable and vary in colour from deep-rose to reddish-purple and are rather leathery in texture. The flat foliose blade gradually expands and divides into broad segments ranging in size to 50 cm long and 30 - 8 cm in width which can bear flat wedge-shaped proliferations from the edge.

As a food
Dulse is a good source of minerals and vitamins compared with other vegetables and it contains all trace elements needed by humans and has a high protein content.]
It is commonly found from June to September and can be collected by hand when the tide is out. When collected, small snails, shell pieces and other small particles can be washed or shaken off and the plant then spread to dry. Some collectors may turn it once and roll it into large bales to be packaged later. It is also used as fodder for animals in some countries.
Dulse is commonly used in Ireland, Iceland and Atlantic Canada both as food and medicine. It can be found in many health food stores or fish markets and can be ordered directly from local distributors.

Fresh Dulse can be eaten directly off the rocks before sun-drying. Sun-dried Dulse is eaten as is or is ground to flakes or a powder. In Iceland the tradition is to eat it with butter.

As for its nutritional content, Dulse is extremely high in vitamins B6 and B12, as well as iron, potassium and fluoride. Dulse also contains many other vitamins and nutrients, including vitamins C, E, and A,, magnesium, calcium, dietary fiber and protein. Additionally, Dulse is a natural source of iodine, essential for thyroid gland health and thyroid hormone secretion.

Some information courtesy Wikipedia.




Happy, sunny Days!

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Dulse grows here in my upper Bay of Fundy, and my husband goes dulsing every August. I've gone with him once or twice; we go out to harvest at Cape Split, and have to time the trip with the tide, because you don't want to be out there in a small boat when the tide turns and begins to run in its riptide. We dry it on the back yard on a tarp and then eat it all winter long, just as a snack food. It's one of those acquired tastes--those who like it, like it a lot, like us. Others, not so much. :-)

lotusleaf said...

I have not come across Dulse here. It seems to be an interesting food item.

Helga said...

Von wegen Sonne.Bei uns ist es immer noch bitter kalt und der Schnee will nicht weichen.Eigentlich ist doch Frühling.
Liebe Grüsse
Helga

Pietro Brosio said...

Titania, it's quite good not to use commercial flavourings but the natural ones; in fact, vitamins B6, B12, C, E, and A are really essential for our organism.
Have a very nice Sunday!

Laura in Paris said...

Had never heard of Dule until now. THank you.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Jodi thank you for your interesting comment. It must have been always a popular food source to get all the minerals and vital vitamins.

lotusleaf, thank you for your comment.

Helga, ich bin sicher wenn er kommt kommt er mit brausen, sagt man das nicht so?

Pietro, thank you, you are so right.

Laura, dulse was always an important food, all the minerals and essential vitamins to keep the people healthy in the cold parts of the world.

James David said...

Never heard about Dulse, more often when it comes to seaweed - its used to make jellies and another type to wrap around susi.

DeniseinVA said...

That is so interesting Titania, and I have learned something today. Great post! Thank you :)

Babara said...

Habe auch wieder etwas Neues gelernt und gesehen, dass es keine Uebersetzung für Dulse gibt. Dachte zuerst, es wäre so etwas wie Algenblätter, die wir hier auch kaufen können in Spezialgeschäften die asiatische Kochzutaten anbieten.
Liebe Grüsse, Barbara

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Hi Tatania,
Thanks for visiting my blog today. I have gotten behind due to trying to take things out of the kitchen. They are going to do the work next week, and say it will be finished the 20th. We may not have to do the remodeling work, but it sure has been work getting things out of there.

I am so looking forward to getting the kitchen put back together and spending as much time as possible outside gardening.

I'm trying to remember if I've heard of dulse. A long time ago, I did some cooking with some types of seaweed. One of the recipes using it was miso.

easygardener said...

I have not heard of it before though I see it is sold in dried form over here. I always associate the various seaweeds with Japanese food - forgetting that other countries will use it too.

LoLa said...

Very interesting post Titania. I know nothing about it until now. Thanks.

LoLa

diane b said...

I 've never heard of it but I will be looking for some it sounds very good for you.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I am interested. I wonder if I can find it in our beach.

Hort Log said...

I had dulse when I visited New Brunswick - ate it raw after drying in the sun. Very delicious if you make it crispy after placing at low heat in microwave for afew seconds.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Thank you for your visits and interesting comments.