Cooking with Haizao

[Guest guest]

Any chance of an early reply because I am due to make next month's soup

in a few day's time.

 

Robin

 

The above comments are in response to Robin's email of 14/05/2006 15:48

as quoted below:

> I hope this is the type of question that you can help me with:

>

> I have been adding the Chinese seaweed Haizao to my daily soup. It is a

> fairly complicated batch produced soup that is based on a rough and

> ready lentil soup with cabbage, astragulus, Chinese mushrooms, broccoli,

> and herbs all added. Some such as the astragulus and reishi are cooked

> separately and only the water used.

>

> After much research I decided this soup was one of the healthiest ways

> of feeding myself at lunch time. I am not finding the addition of the

> Haizao a great success, because bits of stalks end up in the soup even

> though I hand blend the complete soup. I have been wondering if there is

> another way of adding the goodness within the seaweed to my soups. One

> idea is to cook the Haizao separately and just add the decoction into

> the soup. I wonder if this will extract all the goodness, (excluding the

> roughage).

>

> Has any one experience or advice in using Haizao as part of a soup?

>

> Robin

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Robin - nice to have you join us.

 

I'm sorry that you haven't had a response since you posted on Saturday, but

yesterday

being Mother's Day and all, it's possible that many members were otherwise

engaged ;-)

Or perhaps it is simply that they do not have the answer and cannot help. Okay,

here goes:

 

You say:

> > I have been adding the Chinese seaweed Haizao to my daily soup. . .

 

Yes, this is used in Chinese herbal medicine. Understand that this is not a

health list, but

let's see what we can think of here.

 

> >I am not finding the addition of the

> > Haizao a great success, because bits of stalks end up in the soup even

> > though I hand blend the complete soup.

 

Clearly not meant to be used as a vegetable? Twigs don't go well with lentils,

right? ;-)

 

>> I have been wondering if there is

> > another way of adding the goodness within the seaweed to my soups. One

> > idea is to cook the Haizao separately and just add the decoction into

> > the soup.

 

Well, I don't use this herb/seaweed, although I understand it is used sometimes

for

phlegm and/or in hopes of reducing masses of various origins. But if the stems

are a

problem, then I would say simmering for an hour or more might just do the trick

-

guessing now - and straining the resulting liquid - pretty much as you are doing

for the

other two herbs.

 

>> I wonder if this will extract all the goodness, (excluding the

> > roughage).

 

Truthfully, I haven't a clue, but that's what I'd try if I were bound and

determined to use

this herb myself. Why not try it? Or ask a Chinese herbalist for advice?

 

Meanwhile, why not introduce yourself to the group? We'd be pleased to meet you

properly. If you have an interest in hot and spicy vegetarian cookery, we'd also

like to

exchange ideas for good and tasty food and wonderful recipes. Why not check out

our

Recipes at /files

 

Best,

Pat (Vegetarian Spice group owner)

[Guest guest]

I just wrote:

 

> I'm sorry that you haven't had a response since you posted on Saturday . . .

 

I am in error <sigh> - You joined and posted just yesterday - and I do realize

you are in a

hurry for some reason. I hope someone can help you. Although this is not a

herbal

medicine list or even a health list, as I have said, I do know that some members

are very

knowledgeable indeed about such things and if they can help they will.

 

Best love, Pat

[Guest guest]

I have never used nor actually heard of haizao.

This page talks about a decoction containing haizao:

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/seaweed.htm

On the web I see many references to using a decoction

of haizao so my assumption would be the " goodness "

would still exist within the decoction. I also saw

one reference to using it as a powder. I'm sorry I

cannot be of more help.

 

This page seems to be gone but was cached at google

<http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:AYxeb-dT72oJ:ip.aaas.org/tekindex.nsf/2a9c4\

e44835b04ea85256a7200577a64/5921770404b5b88285256c1d007065c5/Body/M1%3FOpenEleme\

nt+%2BHaizao+preparation & hl=en & gl=us & ct=clnk & cd=7 & client=firefox-a>

" Eliminate foreign matter, wash clean, dry in the air briefly, cut

into sections, and dry in the sun. "

 

However that same information is available in a pdf here:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/DOCKETS/97s0162/let3553.pdf

<http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/DOCKETS/97s0162/let3553.pdf>

 

Interestingly enough Herbalpedia says to dry it in the shade.

 

Gary

 

, Robin <benfordlaw wrote:

>

> I hope this is the type of question that you can help me with:

>

> I have been adding the Chinese seaweed Haizao to my daily soup. It

is a

> fairly complicated batch produced soup that is based on a rough and

> ready lentil soup with cabbage, astragulus, Chinese mushrooms,

broccoli,

> and herbs all added. Some such as the astragulus and reishi are

cooked

> separately and only the water used.

>

> After much research I decided this soup was one of the healthiest ways

> of feeding myself at lunch time. I am not finding the addition of the

> Haizao a great success, because bits of stalks end up in the soup even

> though I hand blend the complete soup. I have been wondering if

there is

> another way of adding the goodness within the seaweed to my soups. One

> idea is to cook the Haizao separately and just add the decoction into

> the soup. I wonder if this will extract all the goodness, (excluding

the

> roughage).

>

> Has any one experience or advice in using Haizao as part of a soup?

>

> Robin