Sushi is not only delicious but now scientists have found that it can change our genes to alter the way we digest food.
Some French marine biologists have found a substance in marine bacteria that breaks seaweed down into digestible pieces. By eating sushi wrapped in nori seaweed, it seems the Japanese and all other sushi lovers have also ingested these bacteria and the gene coding for that digestive enzyme.
The team from Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) in Paris, made the discovery by chance while studying red algae known as Porphyra of which nori seaweed is a type. They discovered the new enzyme, porphyranase, from bacteria living on the seaweed that break down the algae. They looked through hundreds of gene databases to search for where this unique enzyme might occur and linked it to the gut bacteria of a group of Japanese people.
This means the Japanese digestive system has probably adapted to include this marine bacteria as a result of a sushi rich diet, especially since nori seaweed is dried but eaten raw. It is an amazing discovery as it proves that what we eat and how we prepare it can influence the biological processes for how we consume food.
So, eating sushi wrapped in seawed – maki, gunkanmaki, temaki cones - can change the way our bodies respond to what we eat. It is another great reason for investing a sushi making kit and eating a Japanese diet which is also healthy, low fat and full of vitamins and minerals.
This point was reiterated by American microbiologist, Professor Justin Sonnenburg who wrote an article to accompany the team’s Nature paper. He said: ”Global travel and trade are providing unmatched access to new types of food and perhaps new microbes harbouring novel genes. So the next time you take a bite of an unfamiliar food, think about the microbial inhabitants you may also be ingesting, add the possibility that you will be providing one of your ten trillion closest friends with a new set of [digestive] utensils.”
The days are getting shorter and the weather’s getting colder, making it the perfect time of year for enjoying a warming soup.
In Japan, Miso soup comes with everything, whatever the weather. In fact, along with rice it is one of the key ingredients of a traditional Japanese breakfast and most of the 128million or so people that live there will have Miso soup at least once a day.
It is a clear broth which sometimes has chunks of seaweed or tofu in it and has a distinctive smoky taste. It normally comes served in a small, lacquered bowl with a lid and is drunk straight from the bowl with the solid ingredients eaten with chopsticks.
The Miso stock is known as dashi and is a fish stock made from dried fish and kelp. Miso itself is a seasoning made from a base of barley, rice or soybeans which are fermented to form a salty paste. For the soup, Miso paste is softened and mixed into the dashi. The other ingredients are added according to taste or regional variation and can include mushrooms, vegetables, tofu, daikon radish or wakame seaweed to name a few.
There are different types of Miso pastes which give a different character or flavour to the soup which, again, vary according to the region you are visiting and the season.
Miso soup normally comes at the start of your meal and, in Japan, usually precedes a salad course. It is surprisingly filling, even though it is mostly a broth, and is known for being very low in fat and having a high a high vitamin content.
If you don’t fancy making a dashi from scratch, there are a number of delicious instant Miso soup brands available which just need a kettle and are ideal for lunch. Tasty Miso paste can also be used as a marinade for meat, fish or vegetables or as a stock for noodle soup.
It is a versatile and unusual flavour that’s quite unique but can add a rich smoky dimension to your meals this autumn.
The first time I saw seaweed on a menu, I found it hard to picture anything but the knobbly, wet greenery that washes up on beaches across Britain.
It was not the Chinese that brought seaweed to our dinner plates, we have been eating it here for years (like in Welsh laver bread) though in the Far East, it has been a staple of their diet for thousands of years.
Historians have found evidence that six types of seaweeds were used in 800 A.D in everyday cooking in Japan and nori, which is used in sushi, dates back to this period.
Nori is just one type of edible seaweed which comes in dried sheets to wrap round your sushi. The dried sheets are made by a process of shredding and rack drying. It was originally made as a paste and then turned into sheets using similar methods to traditional ways of making paper. The nori is farmed in nets on the seas surface and, in Japan; over 230 square miles of Japanese coastal waters are used to produce 350,000 tonnes of nori each year.
Nori sheets are a true sushi essential and used for sushi rolls, temaki cones, gunkanmaki and more. There are different brands and different qualities but sushi is generally best eaten fresh as the nori stays slightly crisp and doesn’t pick up moisture from the rice or filling.
In Japanese cooking seaweed is used for a range of other dishes. Different seaweeds like Wakame, come in dried strips that expand when wet and are perfect for flavouring soups and can be used in salads if fresh. Other types like Dried kelp can also be used to make a delicious stock for soups or vegetables.
Seaweed is also something of a superfood and is low in fat and high in iron, calcium, vitamin A, B and C, fibre, and protein so it is good for your diet and your taste buds and a delicious way to eat your greens.
|
 Although, on an inside out roll, it’s on the inside of the sushi roll obviously!. nori is made from dried and pressed seaweed and can be found in most asian supermarkets all over the UK. If you have a problem finding one in your area, there are many online food shops where you can order nori online. For that matter you can order most sushi ingredients from our online store.
This is the best thing for making maki-sushi rolls. You can roll your own by following our guide. Nori seaweed is red algae from the Porphyra genus. The major source of Nori is of course Japan. Because Japan is relatively small and hilly, farming land is scarce so Japan harvests the sea for it’s crops.
They have been using seaweed for almost 1500 years although only in the last 500 years has it become a staple of the common Japanese dweller. During this time the Japanese discovered that seaweed was growing on the fences of the docks so they realised it was a farmable crop. Around the same time (1600-1800AD) the Japanese in the Tokyo area invented nori papers, made using the same techniques used in making normal paper.
Japanese farmers now grow nori seaweed in the sea in nets about 8m deep. The nori crop usually takes about a month and a half to fully grow from seed, but it is less than 2 weeks between harvests after that.
The Porphyra plant is such a popular food today that nori farming is now one of the largest industries in japan selling over 11 million nori sheets per year and the industry being worth over £1,000,000,000 per year!
When you by nori sheets in the UK they will usually come in packs of 10 square toasted sheets. They need to be toasted before used in sushi rolls so if you have bought raw nori you will have to toast it first.
Nori is used in many sushi dishes. Not just maki-zushi, the easily identifiable sushi roll you can get in M&S, but also in nigiri where a thin strip of nori is wrapped around a ball of rice with a small piece of fish on top. Nori seaweed papers are also used in sushi hand rolls (Temaki), Onigiri and gunkan-maki. Nori is can even be shredded into a salad or soup.
Eating nori is good for you, check out our health benefits section for more info on how nori can help your diet. Authentic Sushi nori sheets are available from our sushi store
|
|
