Eat Your Greens, You're in Wales

Eat your greens, you’re in Wales

Wales is fast becoming a favourite destina - and a slice of Bara Brith. places to visit in Pembrokeshire from cafes tion for foodies in the British Isles and FOCUS is taking a series of trips and hotels, to castles and nature reserves. quite frankly this is not a surprise. After around Wales and examining the finest Indeed, there is something for everyone of all, Wales is home to some of the finest places to eat, stay and play. We are begin - every age, but the focus of this article is food in the world. e best restaurants in ning with a trip to South Pembrokeshire, on the green gold of Wales, the speciality the country will tempt you with a variety where it would be rude not to sample the seaweed known as laverbread. of culinary delights using local produce local greenery. So pop on your wellies, Admittedly seaweed won’t win any that is often award-winning. While in grab your bucket and spade as we head beauty contests and it does carry a reputa - Wales I urge you to sample the flavours of down to the beach and prepare to delight tion for being slimy, however seaweed has celebrated cheeses, fresh fish, fine beef, in the wonders of seaweed. some health benefits that are hard to get lamb and even wines. e country has re - South Pembrokeshire is known for its from foods that grow on land. For exam - ally come into its own where food is con - sandy beaches, craggy rocks and clear blue ple, a healthy serving of seaweed contains cerned, and you'll find there is a lot more waters, all of which make it a popular more iron than a sirloin steak. Now before to Welsh cuisine than a bowl of lamb cawl tourist destination. ere are many great you cry that the steak will be tastier, sea -

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“With an unusually high proportion of protein, seaweed is also richer in essential vitamins and micronutrients than any other food group. ”

weed can be a delicate treat for the taste Popeyes. It is also the only plant source of bioactive substances proven to lower cho - buds when prepared correctly; so don’t vitamin B12, which is necessary for the lesterol, reduce blood pressure, promote just assume that it’s going to be peculiar production of red blood cells and can healthy digestion and even tackle the free or as delicious as a decaying cucumber. sometimes lack in meat-free diets so, in radicals that can cause cancer. Simmered into a savoury broth or made short, seaweed is one of those raved about e most common form of seaweed is into an energising smoothie are just some super foods. But before you start mutter - nori, and while you might associate it of the quick ways you can enjoy your sea - ing about faddy health trends, the health with hand-rolled sushi, it is closely related weed and get a real health boost. benefits of seaweed have been known to laver seaweed, can be used for a variety With an unusually high proportion of about for centuries. of recipes and is found growing around protein, seaweed is also richer in essential Scientists have long believed that io - the British coastline. Laver, a delicate but vitamins and micronutrients than any dine-rich algaes, such as seaweed, play a in its raw state inedible seaweed, needs to other food group. A prime source of role in reducing the risks of cancer and be boiled for 10 hours to release its truly bodybuilding minerals, such as iodine and other disease. According to some recent amazing savoury, slightly salty, fishy potassium, this is the food of real-life research, seaweed also contains a host of flavour. Rich in glutamates, laver is one of www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 7 Seren’s Seaweed Bubble Seaweed and strawberry The Green Goddess and Squeak smoothie 1 frozen banana peeled and chopped If you are a lover of traditional foods Strawberries are rich in vitamins and ¼ pineapple including core chopped and feeling squeamish about eating minerals. They have diuretic, purifying 300ml cold water green, slimy things or struggle with and detoxifying properties. In addi - 2 tablespoons of laver seaweed getting greens into little tummies tion, red fruits are recommended 2 tsp local honey then my mash potato is a must for and beneficial for asthma and allergy you. problems. Add this to all the fabu - Method: Put everything in the lous mineral qualities of seaweed blender and blend until smooth, pour This recipe is fantastic served with and we have a smoothie that is a into a glass and enjoy immediately. fish, but also works really well with powerful tonic that will allow us to Glamorgan sausages. eliminate accumulated toxins and 500g mashed potato start the day full of energy 225g laverbread (prepared and cooked) 5 strawberries, hulled 30g unsalted butter 1 tea cup of rice, oats or almonds milk Juice of half a lemon 1 tablespoon of cooked seaweed (I use 1 egg yolk laver) 100g grated cheddar 1 twist of lemon Salt and pepper to season Pinch sea salt Method: Peel and cook the Method: Cut the strawberries into potatoes in unsalted water. Once pieces, add a pinch of sea salt and let cooked, drain and mash with the it marinate for 20 minutes. butter. Beat in the egg yolk and seaweed. Stir in the grated Mix rice, almond or oats milk with cheese and season to taste. the strawberries in a liquidiser. Add Serve immediately. the seaweed and lemon and liquidise again. Serve over ice © Seren Charrington-Hollins the ingredients of umami and an absolute markets. Laverbread was very popular found its salty, soft texture much better must for the creation of a true Celtic with the South Wales miners – known hot and some of the Swansea market regu - breakfast. Once cooked, it can be used in then as ‘bara lawr’ – making for a healthy lars suggest that I take some home and soups, fish stews or made into traditional component in their diet and supplying make Laverbread Bake: a hot mixture of Welsh laverbread oatcakes that then get their bodies with essential vitamins. laverbread, cockles, bacon and onion, fried in bacon fat and served with cockles. Today, laverbread is not as popular as it topped with melted cheese that is served Laverbread has a strong Welsh identity was in the early nineteenth century but it with wedges of hot buttered toast. It and is not to be confused with other sea - maintains its tradition of being sold in sounded delicious and my version cer - weeds. Indeed, this seaweed is so strongly Swansea. On my quest to learn more tainly makes the most of the fresh cockles Welsh that it is now a culinary delight pro - about laverbread and how best to eat it, I and laverbread purchased from Swansea tected by the European Protected headed off to Swansea, which has a large Market. Designation of Origin (PDO) status, and bustling indoor market. e market is If you don’t have time to pop over to which provides consumers with the confi - a thriving hub of this city and the Cockle Swansea Market or have a spare 10 hours dence that they are eating the genuine arti - Rotunda stands as the jewel in its crown. to boil it up, Parsons Pickles produce, cle in exactly the same way that Cornish It is owned and run by the Swiston and among other things, laver seaweed in a pasties and Melton Mowbray pork pies are over the years has built up an enviable tin. Parsons Pickles sells a type found on protected. reputation for quality seafood and fish in - the western coast of the British Isles, Laverbread has a very long history and is cluding mussels, whelks, seafood cock - growing on beaches where rocks are em - a unique product as its taste and appear - tails, jellied eels and of course the popular bedded in sand. e seaweed is harvested ance are affected by the cleanliness and staples of fresh cockles and laverbread! by Penclawdd Shellfish Processing, which temperature of the seawater, as well as the Carole Watts, who runs the stall and is the isn’t an easy task as laver attaches itself to method of producing it, making it a char - third generation of her family to do so, the rocks by a ‘hold-fast,’ making it labo - acteristic of its origin. explains that laverbread is best served hot rious to collect. After picking, it is washed Collecting the laver, a type of seaweed, and is delicious spread on toast. thoroughly to remove the sand, then to make Welsh laverbread was a small cot - e laverbread for sale on the cockles cooked before being minced to make a tage industry in Pembrokeshire, dating and shellfish stall is black with a green hue smooth, paté-type texture. Traditionally back to 1800. e laver was thrown over and it became obvious to me as I gazed at the seaweed was collected and hand thatched huts to dry before being sold to its dark appearance why it is sometimes washed before being cooked in boiling businesses in Swansea where it was cooked referred to as ‘black gold’. For me, laver - pans over coal fires, although today the into Welsh laverbread and sold at local bread is not a delicacy to be eaten cold, I process is done using the latest technology

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Idle Hands

“Laverbread is so strongly Welsh that it is now a culinary delight protected by the European Protected Designation of Origin status. ”

using gas heating – but the method of Although not all the varieties are tasty, cooking is basically the same. none will do you any harm. Top tips for foraging your e Gower peninsula, the thumb of Seren’s guide to seaweeds to for - own seaweed land sticking out under the hand of age for around Britain 1. Look for a remote stretch of coast south-west Wales is the celebrated home Pelvetia (channel wrack ) Leafy, fronded that is far from sewerage outfall of laverbread from the rocky southern algae that holds its finger shape when buoys and mouths of estuaries shore and cockles from the estuary. Its ‘cooked’ – to prepare, simply rinse 2. Look for healthy looking plants that beaches are picture postcard pretty and through with boiling water and serve as are still attached to the rocks well worth a visit. Perhaps while there, an alternative to cabbage. 3. Never collect washed-up or you can indulge in a true South Wales A thick and meaty variety that floating seaweed as it can have breakfast of laverbread, bacon and Broad kelp looks like pasta ribbons and requires soak - started to decompose and could cockles. ing to reduce its salt content, and a thor - be toxic If you are a lover of traditional foods ough boiling to make it edible. Great as a and feeling squeamish about eating green, 4. Take a pair of good, sharp scissors stand-alone side vegetable, chopped into slimy things or struggle with getting with you as they can be good for chunks in soups, or baked in a very hot greens into little tummies then my mash snipping off the top section of oven into delicious crispy strips. potato is a must for you. the plant With such evident health benefits it Purple laver With a distinctive flavour 5. Only take what you need like olives and oysters, this smooth and makes us wonder why don't we cook with 6. Take a small bucket or bag – I find seaweed more? After all it is a bountiful, fine variety boils down to a dark green a bucket is best as it prevents natural resource, growing freely on rocks pulp – perfect for making into laver Lsaweanw Caotfefere leakage on the way home around our coastline. Dried seaweed is bread, the traditional Welsh dish. 7. Once collected it will need washing available in Eastern groceries and health Sea lettuce Bright green algae found in in clean, fresh water at least three food shops or for a fresh taste of the sea rock pools. With a strong flavour similar times before cooking Iain McKellar runs JustSeaweed.com , to sorrel, it can be added to salads, or 8. With the exception of laver Britain's only fresh seaweed store, selling pressed and dried into crispy green sheets seaweed most seaweed only needs rock-grown algaes cut from the waters off used to wrap Japanese nori rolls. the Isle of Bute. Iain is a fountain of light steaming (sea spaghetti ) Grows in bil - knowledge when it comes to seaweed and Cordia filia lowing strand in deep waters, so you'll if you don’t fancy picking your own, his need more than a snorkel to harvest your company offers a great way of sampling own. When boiled, it has a crispy bite and different fresh seaweeds. the texture of beansprouts. It's green, Indeed there is even a café dedicated to slimy and something few of us would seaweed. Café MôR is a little street food consider putting in our mouths. But, fol - outlet at Freshwater Beach in South Pembrokeshire serving up delicacies in - lowing a string of recent scientific studies cluding Welshman’s Caviar and Mermaid into the benefits of seaweed, it could soon biscuits, as well as fresh crab and sea veg - be replacing superfood side-dishes such as etables. ey run all sorts of seashore for - kale and broccoli. aging courses and even beach picnics. You With seaweed being excellent for your can find out more at their website at mind, body and even your skin; there is www.beachfood.co.uk no better time to eat up your greens. So Seren Charrington-Hollins is a Unlike mushroom-picking, which can get some seaweed on the dining table and professional food historian, broadcaster have unpleasant, even fatal, consequences explore the different varieties and health- and food writer. S he can be reached at you'll come to no harm with seaweed. giving properties. www.foodhistorian.co.uk