A Beginner's Guide to Seaweed
Maud de Rohan WillnerWhether you're looking to add more variety to your cooking, explore new flavours, or simply discover what seaweed actually tastes like, this guide will help you get started.
Table of Contents
The Easiest Way to Start
If you're completely new to seaweed, we recommend starting with our seaweed salts and sprinkles.
Our seaweed salts combine hand-harvested seaweed flakes with sea salt, while our sprinkle blends are without salt and contain different seaweed flakes and spices designed to make everyday cooking easy.
They can be used just like your favourite seasoning:
- Sprinkle over eggs (scrambled, fried or poached!)
- Finish your favourite avocado toast with a umami twist
- Season fish and seafood dishes
- Add to roasted vegetables
- Stir into pasta, rice or grain bowls
- Sprinkle over roasted potatoes
A small amount goes a long way and lets you explore seaweed flavour without changing how you already cook.
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Popular Products for Beginners
Arctic Seaweed Salt
Our everyday seasoning salt, combining sea salt with hand-harvested wakame.
Smoked Seaweed Salt
A rich, smoky finishing salt made with cold-smoked wakame.
Arctic Ocean Greens
A versatile seaweed sprinkle made with wakame and dulse, that works on almost anything, from eggs and salads to soups and vegetables.
Arctic Furikake
A Japanese-inspired blend of seaweed, plum-flavoured sesame abd puffed rice, perfect for rice dishes, noodles, poke bowls and avocado toast.
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Roasted vegetables with Arctic Ocean Greens
Easy Recipes to Try First
Not sure where to begin? These are some of our favourite beginner-friendly recipes:
- Simple Roasted Vegetables
- Seaweed Guacamole
- Seaweed Hummus
- Seaweed Muesli Chocolate Bars
- Smoked Seaweed Whipped Butter
Our seaweed is hand harvested in the pristine waters of Lofoten, in the Arctic Circle
Meet Our Seaweeds
These are the seaweed varieties found along the pristine Arctic coastlines of Lofoten, where we harvest by hand with care for the surrounding ecosystem. Each brings something different to the kitchen and can be found both in our salt & sprinkle products and as whole leaf for more in depth cooking.
1. Nori
Taste: Mild, delicate and familiar to anyone who enjoys sushi.
Nori is the same seaweed traditionally used to make sushi sheets, but here in its natural whole leaf form. It works beautifully in salads, fried as a snack and roasted.
2. Dulse
Taste: Naturally savoury with subtle smoky notes.
Often nicknamed "ocean bacon", dulse can be rehydrated, added to dips, folded into pasta dishes or pan fried until crisp.
3. Wakame
Taste: Fresh, mild and slightly sweet.
A versatile seaweed commonly used in salads and soups. Wakame softens beautifully when rehydrated and blanched and is one of the easiest seaweeds to cook with.
4. Sugar Kelp
Taste: Mild, rounded and slightly sweet.
Sugar kelp is a great introduction to brown seaweeds. It works well in broths, stocks, salads and desserts.
5. Ocean Truffle
Taste: Deep, earthy and remarkably similar to truffle.
Used in small amounts, Ocean Truffle brings intensity and complexity to dishes such as risotto, pasta and butter.
6. Kombu
Taste: Rich in natural umami.
Kombu is best known as the foundation of Japanese dashi stock. It adds depth to soups, broths and sauces, helping build flavour naturally.
Ready to Explore Further?
If you enjoy cooking and experimenting with new ingredients, whole leaf seaweed opens up even more possibilities.
Start small, experiment, and discover your favourite way to bring a little more of the ocean into your everyday cooking.
Further Reading
- Can You Eat Seaweed Everyday?
- Wild, Not Trawled: Why How We Harvest Seaweed Matters
- Supercharge Your Metabolism with Seaweed
