Sushi Nori Now Both Roasted And Soy

In spite of its growing reputation over the past several decades, many westerners are still wary of the idea of sushi, and plenty of this trepidation is due in part to the ingredients, many of which sound strange and foreign to us, even after having been translated into English. Perhaps chief among these is seaweed, or from here on out: sushi nori. Sushi nori is a well-known ingredient in, and method of preparing sushi, generally comprising the wrap inside which all the other ingredients are stored.



Roasted nori sushi, while commonly simply referred to as sea weed, is really a type of algae traditionally cultivated in the harbors of Japan. The original method of harvest - scraping the algae off of dock pilings, rolling it out into thin sheets and then allowing it dry in the sun - doesn't precisely sound delicious, but modern methods of cultivation and preparation are far removed from scraping it out of a unclean harbor. Today, the process of shredding and rack-drying sushi nori is often a highly sophisticated form of agriculture closer similar to paper making than anything else.



This farming of nori starts in a very controlled environment, in harbors or bays especially designated for that objective, functioning like an aquatic version of a traditional agricultural field. On the surface of these waters, buoys are placed from which large nets are suspended, floating on the water's surface. The seaweed used in the production of sushi nori, a species of red algae referred to as Porphyra, is then permitted to grow naturally upon these nets.



Sushi nori - nori being the Japanese name for Porphyra - has a very small gestation period, only taking about 45 days from the first seeding to the harvest of fully grown plants, and multiple harvests can be made from a single seeding, usually after intervals of about ten days. Once the plants are harvested, they are processed using a range of machines specially designed to replicate the entire process of shredding and drying by hand, with the benefit of enhanced efficiency and speed. The end result is a huge, paper-thin sheet of dried sushi nori. These sheets could cost between six cents, where sushi is harvested in Chinese waters, to $50 for nori harvested from the traditional harbors off the coast of Japan, based on quality and the exact method of manufacturing.



Sheets of nori are usually cut in measurements up to 18 centimeters by 20 centimeters, making them the perfect size for preparing sushi nori. The sheets are laid out and the various ingredients - which include a huge assortment of seafood and vegetables, depending on the exact type of sushi - are positioned on top. The entire sheet is then rolled up, enclosing the other components inside and the roll alone sliced into several sections, presuming the shape and appearance that we usually associate with sushi.





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Article by Paul Wise. When it comes to Sushi nori dinner, Paul recommends Sushimaven.com for great advice on Sushi nori for you