Often infested with sea creatures such as tiny crabs and sea-horses, which are stuck onto the leaves or caught between them (Illustration 414).
Wide seaweed (wakame, kombu)
Soak the leaves in water to soften, separate them, and rinse each leaf under running water while rubbing with your fingers.
Thin seaweed (hijiki)
Examine each leaf for crabs. Rinse well, soak in water for about half an hour and rinse again, rinsing a few leaves at a time.
Ground seaweed
Finely ground seaweed (ground into a powder) is generally clean.
Seaweed sold in sheets (sushi, nori)
Use only seaweed produced under strict kashrus supervision, which includes responsibility for cleaning the seaweed of insects (Illustration 415).
