the “sea truffle”, a tasty seaweed from the cold

Every week for eight years, Axel Eyjólfsdóttir, producer of sea truffles at Reykjavik (Iceland), goes to the coast, at low tide, to harvest them. “It looks a bit like a bushy beard”, she describes. In a few minutes, his expert eye unearths the seaweed, which flourishes in the cold waters of Iceland. “It grows in the Arctic Circle only. It’s very specific to Iceland. It’s a new species. In fact, for other algae, it’s a parasite”, she adds. Summer or winter, the sea truffle is not so easily harvested. Very slippery lava stones are found under the algae. However, they make the product very pure.

At 600 euros per kilo, the sea truffle has established itself as a luxury product. Demand has tripled over the past five years, and seaweed has found its way into the kitchens of Iceland’s top chefs. Fanney Dóra Sigurjónsdóttir, the chef of the Hnoss restaurant, gets her supplies from Axel. She uses it as a condiment in all its forms, fresh, dried or fermented. Each shape reveals totally different flavors. “When it’s fresh, you can really smell the taste of the sea, of the ocean. It looks a bit like langoustine. [Quand c’est fermenté]it’s much more truffled”, she describes. This day, she is preparing an Icelandic lamb tartare with marine and truffle notes.