I have a confession – there are days, like today, that I wish I could trade places with Miko and do this all day at home.
And another confession – I’ve had this pricey, unopened package of Transition Nutrition Irish moss in my pantry for over 6 months.
I bought it at Living Light while visiting Fort Bragg and promptly forgot about it. According to the expiration date, I have one month to use this large bag up which should be interesting! When I first opened the bag, the strong salty, seaweed smell was off-putting to say the least! But I followed the instructions to rinse thoroughly and soak batches of the moss for 4 to 24 hours before using, imaging hubby’s surprise when he opened the fridge and saw this.
After soaking, it became a gummy-like work of art that I was a little afraid to use. The strong seaweed odor was mostly gone. The bag specifies it can be used as a vegan thickener for nut milks, sauces, desserts, etc.
So I decided to use it in a ginger dressing recipe I threw together .
Tangy Ginger Dressing
- 1″ chunk of fresh ginger, peeled
- 1 tbsp. minced shallot
- 1/4 cup of soaked Irish moss
- 2 tbsp. of rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1/4 cup of shelled hemp seeds
- 1/4 cup of water
Place all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend to a smooth texture.
As freaky as the Irish moss looked, it blended smoothly into the ginger dressing.
I coated a large salad with the dressing and served it for a simple dinner after last night’s kitchen adventure.
The salad has an interesting assortment of veggies since I need to grocery shop, I had to get creative! Romaine lettuce, carrot ribbons, thawed frozen corn, chopped celery, and sunflower seeds all coated with the dressing.
As odd as the Irish moss smelled right out of the bag, it did not effect the flavor or aroma of the dressing and did add a silky thickness to it.
Now I just need to figure out what to do with the rest of the moss.
Now that’s a science experiment coming out of those mason jars! Never know what food is going to do sometimes! The dressing sounds delish!
It looked like a science experiment, not sure I would have even considered trying moss before I went vegan. :-)
What an interesting ingredient!!
And yes, I often wish I could trade places with my dogs…they live a damn good life :-)
So true on the dogs, especially this week at work – ugh!
I’m pretty sure growing up there were things in my fridge that looked like that, but they were not on purpose :)
That was true for me during my early apartment days. :-)