Green Caviar vs Sea Bird Nest

This is the most beautiful seaweed I’d come cross with, it looks like green bunch of pearl in bundle. My Filipino staffs prepared this beautiful and delicious Sea Bird Nest plus “Green Caviar” seaweed healthy veggie salad for me.

There are many species of seaweed in our country and most common edible seaweed like Eucheuma cottonii ~ Sea Bird Nest and Eucheuma spinosum are known as red seaweed, and the green seaweed ~ Caulerpa lentillifera also known as “Green Caviar” which make nutritious and healthy dietary valuable to human consumption food. 

All the while my recipes of making Eucheuma Seaweed or Sea Bird Nest come in dry form. Now I have the wet form of Eucheuma Cottonii Seaweed, in cebu they called it as “Guso”, also known as gelatinous seaweed called agar-agar by cebuanos, in chinese named as San Hu Cao or Sea Bird Nest.

Guso is in lighter greenish in color, slimy in touch when in wet form with sea water fishy smell. Now the wet form of guso (Eucheuma Seaweed) and “Lato” ~ known as Caulerpa Lentilifera or “Green Caviar” to make the Filipino dishes in fresh vegetable seaweed salad. 

What is Caulerpa Lentilifera or Green Caviar

Caulerpa Lentilifera or Green caviar is being used in Thailand to cultivate in the pond for water treatment in their shrimp farm. In Philippines and Japan used it as fresh vegetable and healthy salad, or decoration food.

Other than the wet Sea Bird Nest “Guso”, I like this “Green Caviar”, also known as Caulerpa lentillifera (Scientific name of Green Caviar), in Philippines they called as "Lato". It growth in zero pollution water as claimed, and pearly in light green color like a bunch of grapes looks with succulent texture. That's how the name of "Sea Grapes" comes from.

How is the Green Caviar taste like? 

To be frank with you, its taste likes sea water if eating without a dip of sauce, taste a bit like other algae and slightly salty in taste.

How to Prepare Guso

Rinse Eucheuma Cottonii Seaweed or Guso (wet form) with running water and clean thoroughly, cut into small pieces, soak “Guso” in the hot water, make it slightly soften, but don’t hold too long in hot water as it will turn its texture. Toss with the seasoning flavor like vinegar, onion, carrot, and tomato it brings palatable dishes and also protein rich food.

For your information, the strong fishy smell "Guso" in raw orm, taste is totally fishy smell and tasteless, but crunchy in bite. Compare to making in dessert drink, wet form of Eucheuma Cottonii seaweed needs other ingredients to add taste to it before you can consume it with delicious taste.

This Veggie salad is full of "Guso" ~ Sea Bird Nest and "Lato" ~ Green Caviar. the mixture of two seaweeds in a big plate blanch with lime, chilli, carrot and onion. Remember this, when mixed the “Green Caviar” can turns into good taste vegetable salad. But have to consume as quickly as you can if you mixed the “Green Caviar” into the salad. Usually the “Green Caviar” should be separated in another plate; it tastes crispy and nicer with dipping in sauce than mixing it.

Preparation and Cleaning Green Caviar:

Now, to prepare and cleaning procedure for this “Green Caviar” is quite simple, but not yet, we must know how the technique for how to clean to keep its freshness, and its nutrient content in good order.

Method to clean Green Caviar:

Rinse and wash with running water is common method. But through my experiences, and I learned from my Filipino staffs that, after using the running water to clean, probably passes one hour later it will become soft and turn to pale in color, it wilts and the feeling of bite is not crisp at all.

The best way to wash them in a bit of salty water or use the clean water (1 liter) to add with 50g of table salt to process to keep it crispiness in bite when eat.

Sauce for dipping

It is very simple. Mixture of moderate amount of Vinegar or lime, chili and chili sauce, sugar, salt and soybean sauce, mixed well and done.

Preparation and how to eat:

1. Must be eaten raw, can not stand soaking in sauce immersion.

2. Separate the sauce and “Green Caviar”, dip them into the sauce and eat it. Such feeling in the mouth and brittleness will not change.

3. Dip Green Caviar in sauce, wasabi, salad cream, lime or vinegar with chili, the feeling in mouth rumble and trundle in bite yet so delicious. Yum!

Take Note:

• Green Caviar is very sensitive to cold, this Green Caviar survives in about approximately 20-35 °C, cannot keep them in the refrigerator and it will wilt very soon.
• After washing with water, it cannot keep for long period, wash and clean it by water flushing then edible immediately.

Its Health Benefits:

The Green Caviar is pH alkaline foods from the sea. It includes the rich fiber and the mineral substance, rich source of antioxidants and high content of photo-synthetic vitamins, e.g. Vitamin C, Vitamin E, minerals, fatty acid, amino acid, lipid, iodine, phosphorus, copper, magnesium and calcium, dietary fiber and more. The mucus includes the polysaccharide and plant sterols, it is said may have suppresses the cancer cell effect. So far the data of the nutritional value not yet available, even though this seaweed has been eaten as sea vegetable and fresh salad quite common in locally and famous in other countries like Philippines and Japan.

Eucheuma Seaweed My Antioxidant Booster

Tea or Coffee? I love coffee very much. To be a little bit more health conscious what I can do is to avoid overdoses with caffeine. Nowadays I would avoid taking more than 3 cups of coffee in a day. Try to cut down the caffeine intake for my body before it does deteriorate my body. I need to boost my immunity system with high antioxidants due to stressful works. Usually taking a cup of tea certainly is calming effect, especially flora tea and green tea.

The picture of unwashed and washed Eucheuma Seaweed/Sea Bird Nest in process stages.

• Top picture of Washed Eucheuma Seaweed take about 5 hours to soak and preparation in progress.
• Below is those unwashed Eucheuma Seaweed take at least 3 days of soaking and washing in several times daily in progress.

Adding food varieties in taste, nutrients and benefits plus anti-aging of cos the beauty and slimming always come first to me.

Eucheuma Seaweed + Jasmine green tea mixed with orange juice Plus Plus ++ it is my great antioxidant booster, with its light and refreshing aroma flavor may go well with Eucheuma Seaweed / Sea Bird Nest. This fishy thing is as good as Bird Nest....Also "Edible Skincare".

Carrageenan extracted from the Eucheuma Seaweed is used as a stabilizer in food and cosmetics. Its highest amount of protein does not contains any cholesterol. And it has good compound to stabilize the fruit juices, jelly and pudding.

About the benefits of taking Eucheuma Seaweed you can refer to this link here. After soaking process and removed the fishy smell of Eucheuma Seaweed with ionized water or water. In fact I found Eucheuma Seaweed is tasteless after soaked and washed in water for several times.

The purpose of get rid of the fishy smell with the combination of orange juice aroma taste of citrus added Vitamins C plus refreshing taste. Whatever best goes well with my taste bud, I try to make it. Not only that, especially Green tea to those with irritable bowel movement can not take too much of it. So the idea of making it with Eucheuma Seaweed / Sea Bird Nest would help to solve the problem for green tea lover.

Benefits of Green Tea

In additional, the health benefits of Green Tea contain catechin polyphenols which possesses powerful antioxidant activity and antibiotic properties. It helps reduction in cancer risk and lower fat tissue levels, if you want to slim down take more of this stuff and boost metabolism rate to burn more fat with its detoxification process, it really help in digestion tract problem and weight lost plus anti-aging naturally, Eucheuma seaweed /Sea Bird Nest is edible skincare for women. It is just like taking collagen for your skin. Why not! It’s satisfying your sweet tooth by taking junk foods this is one of the best skincare.

Add Orange Juice or Citrus in Green Tea health benefits

This suggests of add in orange juice or lemon increases green tea’s antioxidants, if you have ever had probelms with poor digestion you may want to try drinking teas or some kind of herbs, try to add and make this Eucheuma Seaweed into your diet or beverage. it will help with digestion and giving your body an extra boost and improve bodily absorption.

As the Citrus juice increased recovered catechin levels by more than 5 times, Lemon Juice and its Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C has a stabilizing affect higher than orange, the benefits of adding orange or Lemon juice into Green tea to cook Eucheuma Seaweed, not only adding Vitamin C is used for flavor and also to increase shelf life. It showed the results in more available antioxidants at the absorption phase also simulates digestion in the stomach and small intestine. As the green tea catechins become unstable in a non-acidic environment and less than 20 percent of the amount originally ingested remains after entering the intestines.

Ingredients:

1 bowl of Eucheuma Seaweed/ Sea Bird Nest (blend or cut into fine pieces)

2 Jasmine Green Teabags

Juice of 2 Oranges

4 cups of water

(This recipe is just like making agar-agar Jelly)

Preparation:

1. Boil 3 cups of water and put in the Eucheuma Seaweed till it totally dissolved and turn into jelly form.
2. Boil 1 cup of water, put in Jasmine green tea bags to a teapot. Add in rock sugar till dissolve. simmer or let it sit for 5 to 7 minutes. (do not cook Jasmine green tea).
   
3. Remove the tea bags. Ready for use. 
4. After the Sea Bird Nest is dissolved. Stir well all the ingredients.
   
5. Let it cool a little bit then add the orange juice and Jasmine Green Tea to it. Stir well all the ingredients.
   
6. Pour the Eucheuma Jelly into the small container with cap or Jelly mould to set. 
7. Chill in refrigerator and it will become jelly form in container and serve for 4 persons. Done and Enjoy!

Tips: Do not throw away the green teabags, freeze the used tea bags it is good eyes treatment pads for tired eyes!

For cooking tips:

Instead of using corn starch to thickening a broth in cooking. Use Eucheuma Seaweed plainly cooked without adding any sugar or salt and form it into jelly form, then keep in small container. chill in refrigerator and ready for use, to replace corn starch for thickening a broth in your cooking.

It will thicken the broth in your cooking with its high in phyto-nutrients and ease poor digestion and don't worry it is tasteless.