18972 Mon Mar 04 02:54:42 -0800 2002 10 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 61903 Hi, I've seen you at almost every Japanese restaurants and in prepackaged seaweed salads at grocery stores. I'm the shy guy who always orders you and then is too smitten to start a conversation. When I try to find you for home consumption you are strangely missing from the stores . . . Yes, I am a huge fan of seaweed salad. I've made it several times at home, however all the research I've done into seaweed types has yet to help me find the predominant variety I find at restaurants. Yes, I've found the hijiki and the wakame--these are always available at asian markets--but neither is the kind that I love. The stuff I prefer is a beautiful shade of bright translucent green (like a healthy lawn on a sunny day), has an almost artificial-seeming luminosity, and is stringy like a thinner sunflower sprout with a pleasantly chewy texture. Hijiki and wakame are both dark green to brown. An avid internet search brought me to a site selling what looks like (from the primitive photo of the plastic packaging) a package called "hana mekabu," but I've still never found it in a store. It's maddening, because this is always the type of seaweed they serve in restaurants. Any seaweed experts out there who could help me out? Mon Mar 04 02:54:42 -0800 2002 0 jordan 1 61904 Have you checked out Suruki Supermarket in San Mateo on 4th Avenue? They have all sorts of seaweed, and one of them is a tangle of translucent emerald green strands. I've had it at Japanese restaurants before and it brings to mind very finely shredded Chinese jellyfish. Is this it? Mon Mar 04 03:05:16 -0800 2002 61903 0 Pia 2 61905 that sounds like it. Only I must find a place to get it in the city, as I have no car. Or perhaps I could make a special trip down to San Mateo and get a year's supply. Do you know what this type of seaweed is called? Mon Mar 04 10:25:01 -0800 2002 61904 0 jordan 1 61906 This link may help. JMF Link: http://www.alcasoft.com/seaweed/ Mon Mar 04 10:40:55 -0800 2002 61903 0 The Rogue 1 61910 The 99 Ranch supermarket sells that seaweed, prepared as they do in Japanese restaurants and other ways as well. I was once told that the Japanese refer to that preparation as "chuka-wakame" where "chuka" means Chinese, which might explain why I've been able to find that seaweed salad at 99 Ranch. If you're in San Francisco, the nearest 99 Ranch is near the Eastmoor exit of 280. The directions on their web site are clear. Mon Mar 04 11:37:17 -0800 2002 61903 0 SFnewbie 1 61917 The supermarket at Japantown sells seaweed salad, as does the Berkeley Bowl and Yum Yum fish. You might also find it in a Chinese market. Expensive though--rarely less than $4 a container and it doesn't keep. Mon Mar 04 12:32:22 -0800 2002 61903 0 windy 2 61927 Yeah, I'm hoping to find the dry stuff so I can make it at home. Thanks for the response(s). j Mon Mar 04 13:42:28 -0800 2002 61917 0 jordan 3 62000 I didn't realize you were looking for the dried version. I actually was looking for the same thing a year ago on the East Coast and was told that it basically doesn't exist -- a seafood importer who supplied all the local Japanese restaurants there told me that it is imported frozen, not dried, from Japan in large blocks. So I'm not sure you'll have any luck, but let us know if you do. Mon Mar 04 18:39:57 -0800 2002 61927 0 SFnewbie 1 61967 I've bought dried seaweed salad in cellophane packets at Rainbow Grocery. Look in the Asian foods section, or ask if you don't see it. They also sell a variety of seaweeds in bulk. Mon Mar 04 16:33:58 -0800 2002 61903 0 dutch 1 61979 No gurantees, but Sunset Super on Irving and 25th might have it. Mon Mar 04 17:14:12 -0800 2002 61903 0 Limster 1 62086 An e-mail to a company in Japan may lead to a finding. Link: http://www.wbs.ne.jp/bt/atanet/kaiso1.html Tue Mar 05 14:51:35 -0800 2002 61903 0 Hiko Ikeda