Laver is rich in nutrition, high in iodine and high in therapeutic value. It has been loved by people from all over the country.
However, recently, a video on the Internet said that Porphyra can't be torn, chewed and smelled. It's made of abandoned black plastic. Is that true? Can you rest assured to eat Porphyra?
Video screenshots
In fact, the situation in the video can be explained by the characteristics of Porphyra itself. Laver itself is translucent after unfolding. In the video, laver can't be chewed, chewed or torn, which may be due to the insufficient water temperature of pickled laver; the color of laver is dark brown, which may be due to the long storage time; as for the 'fishy smell', it is actually the taste of laver itself, mainly composed of 1-octene-3-alcohol and heptadiene aldehyde. None of these can explain the quality problems of Porphyra, let alone support the statement of "plastic fake Porphyra" in the video.
What does laver look like?
In this video, the blogger bubbles the laver with water and pulls it apart by hand, saying that its transparent appearance is very similar to that of plastic. But in fact, laver itself is translucent.
In the video, Porphyra is transparent when it is soaked and pulled apart, which means it is plastic.
We usually say Porphyra is a general term for Porphyra, such as Porphyra yezoensis, Porphyra haitanensis and Porphyra yezoensis. In China, we often eat Porphyra yezoensis and crockery. The normal laver itself is a translucent leaf, but the laver we usually see is not unfolded.
It's common for small laver to grow to 3cm, but it doesn't unfold flat.
Generally speaking, those squarely cut seaweed slices are processed by Porphyra yezoensis; Porphyra haitanensis is eaten in a relatively traditional way, which is generally dried and processed into a disc shape for sale, and then floated in Porphyra soup.
The specimen of P. umbilicalis can be distinguished from its purplish red because of its proper preservation. That's how it unfolds
The differences between the two kinds of Porphyra are as follows:
The size of Porphyra yezoensis is slightly small, the length is usually no more than 30 cm, the leaves are almost ovate, the color is purplish red or slightly green;
The size of Porphyra haitanensis is slightly larger, it can grow to 40 cm, the leaves are lanceolate, and the color of algae is dark green with purple. But after pressing into dry products, the difference is hard to see.
Laver is dark in color and may be stored for a long time
Laver is black and looks like a garbage bag. In fact, laver is dark because it has been stored for a long time.
When laver is fresh, it has different shades of purple red, because it contains phycoerythrin in its cells. Because of the fast degradation rate of phycoerythrin, in addition to the purple color of the fresh Porphyra, the common Porphyra leaves only green chlorophyll after processing, storage and transportation, making it green. If the chlorophyll is also broken down due to over heating or long storage time, the laver will turn dark brown.
Therefore, we can roughly judge the freshness of Porphyra by its color. The laver in the video is dark brown, which is likely to be stored for a long time.
Purple laver
What's the matter with tearing and chewing?
In the video, the blogger tore the laver and said, "look how hard I made it. It's made of plastic. However, how strong is it that you can see with your eyes? Moreover, seaweed is tough and hard to tear, probably because the water temperature of the pickled seaweed is not enough.
The video says, see how much strength I make, all tear ceaselessly. But, can you see the strength?!
Porphyra is a kind of algae, which is rich in polysaccharides such as gum. After harvesting and drying, the surface of Porphyra is smooth and full of toughness. When gum and other polysaccharides meet with water, they will combine with water molecules under the action of water molecules, and combine with polysaccharide molecules to form a relatively close network structure. Just like a few people, with the help of water molecules, holding hands together, they become very tough and hard to tear. This is their gel properties. However, the size of this gel is related to the water temperature. If the temperature is too high, the combination will become loose again, which is what we usually see in laver soup.
Why does laver smell bad?
"Fishy smell" is actually the smell of laver itself. Some people also call this taste of laver the taste of the sea.
The special smell of seaweed is mainly related to two key odor substances, one is 1-octene-3-ol, which is a common flavor substance in aquatic products, many fish and seaweed contain it; the other is heptadiene aldehyde, the special taste of crucian carp is largely attributed to this substance.
1-octene-3-ol, also known as mushroom alcohol, is one of the important sources of Porphyra 'seafood'
It is with these substances that laver, a plant that does not match fish, has a more sea like smell than fish. Therefore, it's worrying to doubt the smell of laver.