ISO help/tips making seaweed flakes

[TONY COULSON]

I live by the shore and sometimes collect seaweed to use in cooking. My intention is to make the seaweed into flakes however the tough kelp will not break down. Have tried blenders, coffee grinders but no luck. Anyone with any ideas?

 

[puffin3]

I live by the shore and sometimes collect seaweed to use in cooking. My intention is to make the seaweed into flakes however the tough kelp will not break down. Have tried blenders, coffee grinders but no luck. Anyone with any ideas?

We collect a variety of seaweeds locally. One being bull kelp.
Winter time is when we do our collecting.
Are you just trying to use the fronds? Forget about the stalk.
We cut the fresh kelp into small pieces about the size of a quarter. Then we put them in the food dehydrator until the pieces are completely dry and shriveled up.
Then into the food processor a bit at a time. This easily makes the kelp into a coarse powder.
We ALWAYS put the coarse powder through a sieve. It's surprising what gets separated out. Most small rocks. Not good for the teeth.
I often make dashi using the kelp and bonito flakes.
Seaweed is great in so many dishes.

 

[Addie]

Tony, welcome to DC. As you can see, there is always someone who will come your rescue.

If you don't have a dehydrator, you can dry the kelp in the oven at a very low temperature. I often will dry any herbs and make croutons in my oven at a temp of 200ºF. That is as low as my oven can be set. I don't know what the translation to the English version of the temp would be.

 

[puffin3]

200F is about gas mark 6 if memory serves.

 

[TONY COULSON]

Flakes

Thanks for the advice puffin and Addie.

Yes I have a dehydrator. What type of food processor would you recommend to get the kelp into small flakes rather than powder? Ive tried a few and even a coffee grinder have not done the job. Online I have seen machines that will flake seaweed however these are on a industrial scale and I am looking for something more domestic and cost effective.

 

[puffin3]

Thanks for the advice puffin and Addie.

Yes I have a dehydrator. What type of food processor would you recommend to get the kelp into small flakes rather than powder? Ive tried a few and even a coffee grinder have not done the job. Online I have seen machines that will flake seaweed however these are on a industrial scale and I am looking for something more domestic and cost effective.

I think you may be trying to use too thick a part of the fronds' We just use the thin edged bits. After they are dehydrated they are paper thin. We have a plain old basic FP and it does the job no problem.
The thicker part of the frond we dry in large pieces in the oven then into a paper bag. When I want to make primary dashi these pieces work great.
Making an excellent dashi is not for now in this thread though.