Japan's Seaweed & Kelp Culture

About this book

Seaweed in Japan is not one ingredient but a whole agriculture of the sea. This guide covers it entire in 200 entries: the nori sheets of Ariake and the Seto Inland Sea, the great kelps of Hokkaido — ma, Rausu, Rishiri and Hidaka — wakame and mekabu of the Sanriku and Naruto coasts, hijiki, mozuku and akamoku, the agar weeds and sea grapes of the south, the bays and grounds that grow them, the seeding, netting, cutting and drying that bring them ashore, and the soups, rolls, gifts and breakfast trays where they meet the table. Every entry follows the same four fields — what it is and where it belongs, how it grows and is made, how it tastes and is eaten, and where you meet it with the one official check to make before you travel — so any two entries can be compared in seconds. No grounds are ranked and no prices or hours are asserted; species, coasts and traditions are described as the people who work them know them. Written and produced in Japan by a Japanese author and publisher.