>chicken stock vs. kelp stock

Unfortunately, some foods sound only vaguely edible instead of conjuring up warm memories of grandma's kitchen. Let's try.

Chicken stock.
Kelp.

One of them brings to mind bottles of infomercial iodine supplements, barley grass or alfalfa powder. Or cool underwater forest scuba diving, but not exactly food per se.

Actually, kelp -minus its flavor- is a widely used secret ingredient in commercially processed desserts, dairy products, beer foam, salad dressings, baked and frozen goods.

Natural kelp makes an excellent base if you want your soup to smell like the ocean. The kelp broth tastes surprisingly rich by itself without added beef, fish or chicken bones. Just add lots of onions and garlic, perhaps some clams if you find the stock weak, plus a featured main item (fish fillet is nice) and your favorite spices.

Starving contestants on CBS show Survivor are unlikely to encounter kelp forests which thrive in cold water, but they should study up on edible seaweed. There is, by the way, an inherent problem with the English word seaWEED, isn't there.

You may find relatively fresh kelp in the refrigerated section, either vacuum-packed or slightly salted, and there are several kinds of dried kelp. Dashi is not pure kelp stock, but you can easily find it in plastic bottles and Capri-Sun style packs. There are also many different brands of artificial-tasting dashi powder, which taste awful if you use too much.

Whenever I see stacks of canned chicken stock, I can't help imagining stacks of cheap canned kelp stock. Who knows?