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Sea grape
Caulerpa lentillifera · Seaweed
40 pairings
Sea grape (Caulerpa lentillifera) — "umibudō" in Japanese, "green caviar," "lato" in the Philippines or "latok" — is an edible green seaweed whose fronds carry dense clusters of tiny, round, glistening green beads on slender stalks. Eaten fresh and raw, the beads burst between the teeth with a clean pop and a salty, sea-spray brine, which is why it is prized as a marine "caviar" rather than cooked as a vegetable.
Day two or threeRaw salads, sashimi garnish, vinegar dressings.Everyday best
Bead and sheenFull but matte, the shine gone
Press the packGives, then comes back slowly
Fronds and runnersA few bare tips, most fronds full
SmellFaint, barely marine
What to look for, from plump, glossy, springing back to shrunken, shed, weeping.
Keeping ittap a band
Below 15°C the beads lose turgor and shrivel within a day; a domestic fridge is the classic way to ruin them, and they never fully plump back.
Humidity
High, in its sealed pack
The pack it comes in already holds the right humidity — not a damp cloth, not water. Open to the room the beads desiccate within hours.
Airflow
None — keep it sealed
Unusually, it wants none: leave the bag shut and out of direct sun until serving, since drying — not rot — is what flattens the beads.
No rating, and no ripening
No seaweed carries an ethylene rating in USDA's tables, and the alga has no ripening stage; sealed in its own pack at room temperature it meets none from neighbours either.