How to Make Dried Sea Lettuce Products

Dried sea lettuce, as the name explains, is the dried or processed form of the fresh sea lettuce. It is dehydrated vegetable manufactured through food drying, with a long shelf-life. In dried form, sea lettuce can be used whenever it is needed. Extremely rich in minerals, so dried sea lettuce is extensively utilized as nutritional supplements in many foods like noodles dishes, salads, soups, rice dishes and etc..

1. Sun drying

Sun drying is simple and economic, suitable for small scale drying business. Sun drying is easily effected by weather, so the drying is featured with poor production continuity, uneven drying, bad sanitation condition, long drying time and etc.. Obviously for large scale food drying, sun drying will badly affect the product quality and quantity.

2. Hot air drying

Hot air drying is widely applied in sea vegetable drying, especially in large industrial drying. Hot air drying is characterized by less equipment investment, cleaning, good continuous operation, simple operation, and high product quality.
The main working principle of hot air drying is as follows: hot air drying is to use thermal energy to heat materials and oxidize water in materials. Certain thermal energy will be consumed for removing water in materials. Air is generally used as the drying medium to dry materials. Air is heated in advance and then is sent to the dryer, so air can transfer much of its heat to materials. Under the effect of hot air, water in materials are easily gasified to form steam and is carried out of the dryer along with air. After hot air drying, the moisture content in materials can achieve that of what is required.

1. Rinsing with freshwater

After harvesting, rinse sea lettuce with room temperature water to remove the salt and sea sand, then dry them in shadow. Please do not dry them in the sun.

2. Cutting

Cut the clean sea lettuce into slices or strips based on your demands.

3. Dewatering

In order to shorten drying time, you can dewater sea lettuce by centrifugal machine or drain them by manual pressure. Then, spread dewatered sea lettuce preparing for drying.

4. Drying

Sea lettuce is generally dried in the drying room. There are three kinds of drying rooms for using: a. Simple drying room adopting countercurrent drum wind drying, b. Drying room adopting double tunnel to form current and countercurrent drying, c. Stainless hot air circulation drying oven with a drying temperature around 65℃-85℃. With this machine, sea lettuce is dried by different temperatures for gradually cooling down. Adopting the first two types of drying rooms, you need to evenly spread sea lettuce on the drying plates, then put theses drying plates on the prepared drying vehicles. Next, Keep room temperature around 50℃, and meanwhile, continuously flip sea lettuce to accelerate drying. The drying time is usually for 5 hours.

5. Packing and storage

Packing dried sea lettuce in plastic bags, and sealing. Store them in the dark. With these above steps, sea lettuce can be washed, dried and packaged under strict supervision. Storage and handling of sea-lettuce is carefully managed to ensure the highest quality product.
Please notice that these drying steps can also be employed in other sea vegetable drying like nori, seaweed, kelp.

1. Dried sea lettuce flakes or leaves

Dried sea lettuce flakes or leaves are the final products during sea lettuce drying, and preserve all its qualities and increase their shelf life. With savory flavor, dried sea lettuce flakes or leaves can be added into salads, dishes, soups and so on. And the big leaves can be used to wrap fish or vegetables.
Prior to using dried sea lettuce flakes for eating or cooking, please soak it. Soak dried sea-lettuce in water until to regain the firm, tender texture of fresh sea-lettuce. You can either soak dried seaweed in water for a few minutes or simmer it until it’s tender. Soaking or cooking time totally depends on the type of sea-lettuce and personal texture preference.

2. Dried sea lettuce powder

Sea lettuce powder is the further processed product from its dried flakes. Put dried flakes into the grinding machine, and turn on the grinder until the dried sea-lettuce becomes pulverized into a fine powder. As the great spice, flavor enhancer and aromatic ingredient, sea lettuce powder is usually mixed into noodles dishes, salads, soups and etc. as a great salt substitute, also can be added to frozen and packaged meals.

Sea lettuce is edible and can be consumed fresh, or dried in flakes and powders. It is also processed and used in plenty of personal and cosmetic products such as soap, hair care products and facial creams, and also applied to make ice cream and medicine. So sea-lettuce is the multifunctional material in daily life to bring many benefits.