Next, we jump into the sea for what Super Food Evolution calls a semi-transparent noodle suitable for a raw vegan diet. In order to process kelp seaweed into a noodle, the gelatinous inner flesh is removed, dried, and pulverized into a powder. This is then mixed with water and sodium alginate from brown seaweed, which works as a thickening agent. Alginate is also touted for its ability to remove toxic heavy metals.
There are many types of seaweed, and how to eat them varies across cultures and markets. But, the thing that stays the same is that seaweed is well-regarded as a healthy snack. These noodles fit right into that category too, except that creating the noodles requires the removal of the outer green sheath of minerals and chlorophyll. In the end, kelp noodles are not as nutritionally beneficial as straight seaweed, but they’re still low in calories and retain some naturally present iodine.
For flavor, kelp noodles will likely give off at least a whiff of the salty sea from whence they came. Like shirataki noodles, they don’t technically need to be cooked and probably shouldn’t be. This is one noodle that can get soggy in boiling water. Better to simply soak them and toss them into your ramen recipe at the very end.
