Hijiki, a kind of seaweed, is nicknamed the elixir plant of the sea. The nickname is fully justified by the medicinal effect of this seaweed. It contains 98 kinds of minerals and the zinc content is 20 times as high as that of freshwater eel. Moreover, hijiki has 15 times as much calcium and 550 times as much iron as milk. The Japanese people eat hijiki in various ways: with rice, as a side dish, and as an accompaniment to alcoholic drinks.
For this reason, more than 4,000 tons of hijiki are consumed in Japan every year. These days, Korean hijiki is most popular in the Japanese market. Most...