Species sheet · The Edible Ocean
dulse
Blood red, and it tastes of bacon once you fry it.
- Raw, snipped into a butter
- Dry-fried until crisp
- As flakes over vegetables and fish
- Scientific name
- Palmaria palmata
- In the water
- Attached to rock, mussels or other seaweeds from the lower shore into the shallows; most often within 5 m.
- Season & buying
- Harvesting is allowed from April to December in Brittany, but the best window is April to June; look for a deep, supple red, never brittle or gritty.
- Common length
- ~30 cm
- How to identify it
- Flat blade split into finger-like lobes
Purple-red to wine-dark colour
Supple, slightly rubbery texture
On the plate
Supple and salty raw, frankly smoky and umami once pan-fried.
Avoid: Cooking it long: it goes from smoky to burnt in seconds.
Oregon researchers patented a dulse strain in 2015 precisely for that bacon taste, after fifteen years spent growing it as abalone feed.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
