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Pickled Kelp

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TasunkaWitko View Drop Down
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    Posted: 20 October 2011 at 09:56
From Time-Life's Foods of the World - American Cooking: The Northwest:
 
Quote The giant kelp, a tubular seaweed 20 to 30 feet long that floats in Washingotn's Strait of Juan de Fuca, has long fascinated John and Dorothy Conway, who run a Port Townsend Restaurant called the Farm House....The talk of wild food reminded Dorothy of her kelp pickles. She went over to the salad table and came back with a bowl of honey-coloured transluscent rings, each about an inch across. I had heard Alaskans tell how they peel and slice tubes of giant kelp and preserve the rings in a sweet-sour pickle solution, and I asked Dorothy whether she used the same kind of kelp. "I do, and I get it right out there," she said pointing to the water, "but I have my own recipe." I tried one of the rings; it was crisp and spicy, rather like a pickled watermelon rind, but with a coppery tang all its own.... 
 
Time Life went on to say that Dorothy made her kep pickles by retrieving the kelp from the water:
 
 
The thick bulb is cut away and discarded:
 
 
And the tube of kelp is skinned of it's tough outer covering:
 
 
Then the kelp is sliced into rings:
 
 
At this point, the seaweed is ready to be pickled, but unfortunately, Dorothy didn't share her recipe. All that is mentioned is that the rings are steeped in a pickling liquid consisting of water, sugar and vinegar, with a melange of spices known only to Dorothy. "After steeping for several weeks, the rings will be as crisp and refreshing as a watermelon pickle, but with a subte marine flavour all their own."
 
After doing an internet search (during which I actually found a reference to Dorothy's kelp pickles in a 1972 printing of Florida's St. Petersburg Times - an article written by none other than James Beard, no less), I found this write-up and recipe for kelp pickles - I'm sure it's not exactly the same as Dorothy's but it does look good ~
 
From Langdon Cook's Fat of the Land Blog:
 
Quote Pickled Kelp
 
 
Recently I camped out with the family at Deception Pass State Park, one of the true gems in Washington State's park system. While beach combing and fishing for humpies, we came across a six-foot long strand of bull whip kelp (Nereocyctis luetkeana) that had washed ashore. The kelp looked like it was still in good shape (it didn't have the white splotches characteristic of an over-the-hill specimen), so we bagged it up and took it home.

Healthy kelp forests are the old-growth stands of the ocean. A hundred feet or more in length from sea floor to surface, they support a diversity of life. I've seen this diversity first-hand while free-diving in Puget Sound. Lingcod, greenling, and rockfish forage among the kelp forests; [river] otters, seals, and other critters seek refuge from predators; and countless invertebrates make their homes there.
 
 
Our find immediately put me in mind of Jennifer Hahn and her wonderfully useful and poetic Pacific Feast: A Cook's Guide to West Coast Foraging and Cuisine. Hahn calls seaweeds the "most nutritious vegetables on Earth"—and the only vegetables that dance: "They jump and jerk to the bass thunder of waves. They shimmy and shake to the ebb and flood tide." I just knew she would have a good recipe for the kelp. Sure enough, when we got home I thumbed through my copy and found this recipe for pickled kelp.

I've eaten plenty of kelp pickles over the years but never actually made  them myself. For this recipe, imagine a typical bread-and-butter pickle, with its crunch and spicy sweetness, and add to it a subtle hint of the sea. After tasting these pickles, you'll look at a seaweed-strewn beach in a whole new way.

I cut Jennifer's recipe in half since my strand of kelp was on the small side, and I probably could have cut it in half again.

 
2 cups kelp rings
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 clove garlic, diced
1 1/2 tbsp pickling spice
2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 red onion, cut in crescents

1. Make the brine. Mix vinegar, garlic, spices, and white sugar in a sauce pan. Set aside.
2. Cut the kelp into foot-long sections. Peel each section with a potato peeler.
3. Slice each peeled section into 1/4-inch rings.
4. Add the kelp rings into the brine and set aside for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. After brining for 2 hours, boil contents for 5 minutes.
6. Spoon kelp rings and juice into canning jars and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

The pickles cure in three weeks, although we couldn't wait; after just a week in the jar they tasted darn good and brought back fine memories of a sunny long weekend at the beach.

Note: check state and local regulations before harvesting seaweeds. In Washington it's only legal to harvest beached bull whip kelp; cutting a living kelp stipe is illegal.
 
If anyone has access to kelp and tries this, I'd really like to know how it goes ~ it looks like an interesting one!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hoser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 October 2011 at 03:03
Now that is darned interesting! it's what this forum is all about.
I doubt that I can get that type of kelp out here on the east coast, but if I can I'll certainly give this a try!
Go ahead...play with your food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 October 2011 at 09:08
hey, dave - if you're able to, let me know how it goes! i find this one pretty interesting, even though i will most likely never be able to try it!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 July 2013 at 09:49
As a follow-up, I was doing a little reading on this, and it looks like pickled kelp is made on the east coast (Maine) as well, so it stands to reason that kelp in your area should work well for this, Dave.
 
 
 
If you give it a shot, let me know!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote africanmeat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 July 2013 at 01:19
Hi Ron . that looks Interesting .
 We got kelp here, but now the sea is rough and dangerous , so as it will Calm down i will go and collect some and pickle  it .
thanks for this great idea .

Ahron
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