Irish moss

Mousse d'Irlande (pioca)

What it is

Carraigín is Irish for little rock, and the weed was cut off the Connemara shore and boiled in milk as a household set long before anyone extracted anything from it. The industrial carrageenan trade began when the war cut Europe off from Japanese agar and the gels suddenly had to come from somewhere nearer home.

In the kitchen

Rinse it hard for the shell grit, soak ten minutes, then simmer about 15 g dried in a litre of milk for twenty minutes and strain. It sets soft on cooling and will not survive being reboiled, so make the set once and pour it straight away.

Goes with

Cream Vanilla Lemon Honey Nutmeg Oats

In season alongside

Japanese abalone Mozuku Warty venus clam Sea spaghetti Whelk Salt marsh lamb

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us