Hiyashi Wakame Seasoned Seaweed Salad

The cooking qualities and health benefits of some edible seaweeds were discovered in East Asia many hundreds and even thousands of years ago. Among them wakame seaweed has been one of the most widely known and used types of algae. Nowadays it is highly valued not only in China and Japan, where it initially comes from, but also in many other parts of our world. The common Japanese name of this marine plant consists of two parts: the first part “waka” literally means “young seaweed”, while the part “me” was added to define edible types of seaweeds. The natural qualities of this seaweed also had an impact on maintaining its important role in Japanese cuisine. Wakame is an extremely important source of iodine, calcium, magnesium and iron, along with essential vitamin A, C, D and E. Roasted sesame seeds and sesame oil are added as seasonings for this treat, so it can be also regarded as sesame seaweed salad.