Dulse: el regreso de un alimento olvidado

Dulse, named for its elongated leaves and palm-like shape, is officially a "forgotten food" and is part of the Ark of Taste program, created by Slow Food UK to preserve and celebrate our culinary heritage. It has been included alongside previously undervalued foods such as Northdown walnuts, Goosnargh cakes, and Penclawdd mussels. Fresh dulse has a surprisingly mild, umami-rich flavor, while dried dulse develops a smoky aroma followed by a sweet aftertaste, not unlike licorice.

It also triumphs in haute cuisine.

Renowned chefs like Andrew MacKenzie and Brett Graham are using dulse as an innovative and delicious ingredient in sauces, emulsions, breads, and to create crispy crusts. The late food critic A.A. Gill, a great admirer of this seaweed, described it as a "subtle yet intense flavor bomb" and "the most intense source of umami" of all seaweeds. Just as kale has experienced a resurgence as a trendy and nutritious snack, dulse has made a strong comeback. It is now readily available in delis, farm shops, and even on the shelves of M&S, a true triumph for a marine plant that has lived silently in the oceans for 1.5 billion years.

Why is dulse worth rediscovering?

Dulse is a dark purplish-brown seaweed harvested from late spring to autumn. It grows up to 30 cm long and lives on rocks and algae in the intertidal zone. It is found in cold seas along the coasts of North America and Europe. It is extremely rich in iron, contains all the trace elements, and has ten times more minerals than land vegetables. It is high in protein and low in fat. Furthermore, its sodium content is significantly lower than that of gourmet salts (10% versus 98%), and it is an excellent source of iodine, with one serving providing 86.7% of the recommended daily intake.

The historical importance of the dulse

Ancient texts indicate that dulse has been an important food for centuries. As early as the time of Saint Columba, it was considered as valuable as garlic or salt. According to Fergus Kelly's book on the value of land, a rock covered with dulse was worth as much as a cow. An old Irish proverb says:

"If you are a god carved in stone, you will be a duileasg or a femnach"

(That is, "A cow for a fertile rock from which to gather sweets.")

At the beginning of the 19th century, Walter Geikie captured in an engraving a typical Edinburgh street scene, where a vendor offers crispy, salty dulse seaweed in small packets from a wicker basket. Two centuries later, this same seafood delicacy can be found in sandwich shops and cafes as "seaweed chips," the perfect and nutritious snack for those who are always on the go.

Dulse in modern gastronomy

Seaweed has come back into fashion thanks to the New Nordic Cuisine movement, where culinary experiments have shown that dulse even surpasses the umami content of Japanese kombu seaweed. Dulse dashi has been used to flavor cheese, ice cream, and sourdough bread, and the results have demonstrated that dulse is an excellent flavor enhancer.

How to use dulse at home?

For home cooking, it can be added to dishes in dry, ground form to provide extra flavor and nutrients. Excellent for:

to season the lamb

To add flavor to sauces, hamburgers and stews.

For pickles, marinades and emulsions.

To toast, either in the oven or in a pan, with soy, nuts and seeds.

for slow-roasted meats

The most intense source of umami

Other foods rich in umami, such as spring onions, cooked tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, shrimp, bacon, Parmesan cheese, tuna, oysters, and squid, are also high in glutamate, but seaweed far surpasses them. Therefore, dulse is not just a forgotten sea vegetable, but a rediscovered, highly nutritious, and delicious food that deserves a place in modern cuisine.