Breton kombu

Kombu breton

What it is

Breton goémoniers still take it from the boat with the scoubidou, a hooked steel rod that twists the stipe off the rock, a tool designed in the 1960s and used almost nowhere else. The kelp fields around the Molène archipelago are among the largest in Europe, and the cut is governed by a season and a quota like a fishery.

In the kitchen

A 10 cm strip in the pot with dried beans softens the skins and shortens the cooking; lift it out before it starts to shed. Never let it boil hard — much above 90 °C it turns slippery and bitter and clouds the stock.

Goes with

White beans Lentils Chickpeas Cod Mussel Potato Shiitake Butter

In season alongside

Japanese abalone Lobster coral Ikura Mussel Bafun uni Oyster

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