It's a kind of seaweed. The color is black, normally it is selled as dried.
I don't think people in western countries can get this seaweed locally. I'm not really sure, but I think they are only able to be harvested in asia. I know people in Korea also eat this seaweed.
Here in Japan, HIJIKI is a very famous seaweed.
Even though the color doesn't seem like stimulate your appetite, Japanese people love this seaweed, and it is actually very healthy and tasty!
We just started harvesting HIJIKI of this season last 12th.
There is an area called 'Nyukai' or 'Nyukaichi' (pronounce like 'New Kai chi'). It's a shared ocean and shore of adjascent two fishing villages, Uramura and Ijika.
People who has right of fishing in these villages are allowed to go fishing or harvesting seaweed in this area.
Some Ama go to Nyukai for harvesting HIJIKI in Winter, but not all.
In January, water temperature becomes lower than December. So, it is very cold!
To harvest HIJIKI, we don't need to dive. But we wear wetsuit to protect our body from cold water and wind. HIJIKI grows up on rocks on the seashore. So, wetsuit also protects us from getting injury when we slipped while walking on the slippery rocky shore.
It just appears at the lowest tide. Harvesting time is limitted, so we must hurry to cut as much as possible.
As you can see, the color of the seaweed is originally green.
It turned black once it's sundried. It's pretty unique, isn't it?
Here, I show you photos of my first harvest last year.
(My master was helping me to dry)
Then, it turned to be black as below.
After dried it, HIJIKI becomes thinner and looks like hair of asian women.
When you eat, soak the dried HIJIKI in water for 20minutes and rehyrate it to cook.
I am SLOWLY updating some recipes of HIJIKI cuisines on my website.
So if you are interested in that, please check it out.
http://www.zakko-club.com/hijiki
That's it for today.
Thanks for watching!
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