Maine Coast Dulse Flakes

Maine Coast Dulse Flakes

Premium organic dulse flakes in a convenient 4 oz. bag.  Our popular dulse flakes are a colorful and flavor-rich addition to salads and soups. The high protein and mineral content of dulse adds savory umami to every dish, but we find it goes especially well with starches and sharp cheeses.  Sustainably wild-harvested from the pristine waters of the North Atlantic, and lab-tested for quality and contaminants.

• Certified Organic
  
• Dried at low temperatures to preserve enzymes, nutrients, and the environment
• Dulse doesn’t need to be cooked! Tastes great raw!
• Dulse is higher in protein and dietary fiber than most other sea vegetables and land vegetables.
• Dulse also contains vitamin A (beta-carotene), iron, potassium, magnesium, chlorophyll, trace ocean minerals, and B vitamins.

Dried seaweed is a nutritional powerhouse.  Sea vegetables are known to contain most, if not all, of the 24 minerals and trace elements required for your body's physiological functions, some in quantities greatly exceeding those of land plants.  They contain significant levels of vitamins, including the B vitamins, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C.  Their protein content ranges from 10% to almost 40%, and they contain all or most of the essential amino acids required by humans.  They’re low in fat and high in fiber; two qualities that make them healthy for the heart.  And then, of course, there’s iodine.  Sea vegetables are one of the highest natural sources of dietary iodine, even when eaten in small quantities.

Serving Size

To paraphrase an old saying, oftentimes good things come in small portions.  This is definitely true of sea vegetables.  You don’t have to eat a lot to get the most of their flavor and nutrition.  Even in Japan, where about one-third of the adult population eats seaweed almost every day, the average daily intake is only about 4-7 grams, usually over the course of 2-3 small servings eaten throughout the day.  In the US, the FDA defines a serving size as the amount of food customarily consumed (i.e., typically eaten) in one sitting for that food.  The FDA often refers to serving size as the “Reference Amount Customarily Consumed”, or RACC. The serving size is required information on nutrition facts labeling because it informs consumers about the nutritional value of their food in a quantifiable fashion.  The serving size shouldn’t be interpreted as the amount one is supposed to eat, but rather as the amount that most people ordinarily eat.  For dried edible seaweed, the FDA considers 5g to be the RACC. 

The below table shows the serving size for most Maine Coast Sea Vegetable products, along with levels of the three essential minerals required on the nutrition label, plus iodine (nutritional values are rounded to nearest whole number).  You’ll see that the serving size for some of our milled products is smaller than the FDA RACC of 5 grams for seaweed, whereas for whole leaf products it’s larger.  We’ve learned through experience and from our customers that how much people eat very much depends on the product form and how it’s used.  Sea vegetable flakes, granules and powders are usually used in small amounts to add flavor and nutrition to such things as soups, dips, or smoothies.  Whole leaf sea vegetables, on the other hand, may be eaten as snacks or used as ingredients in salads or casseroles, much as one might add arugula or other greens to a mixed salad, or spinach to a lasagna.