Truffle of the Sea
Pepper Dulse or known among chefs as the “Truffle of the Sea” with a delicious delicate garlicky flavour like land truffles expensive and in high demand. Hard to locate and small only 6cm in size making Pepper Dulse difficult to harvest.
Sea Truffle the Gold Award winning gin from the Sidmouth Gin Company has Pepper Dulse and Saffron as its main ingridents giving a superbly balanced gin. The Pepper Dulse is sustainably harvested by Ebb Tides just a few miles from production in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Devon coastline reducing evironmental impact and providing local produce.
Pepper Dulse is Delicate
Pepper Dulse is delicate and in my experience needs to be used within three days to get the true flavour of this incredible seaweed. When dried it tends to lose most of its flavour the same when frozen so it really needs to be utalized almost straight from the sea for the best results. The best way to use it is with butter making superb stocks or as butter on its own. It can be used for various dishes and can be used as a spice however again this means drying the seaweed with the loss of flavour.
It can be found mid to low tide
Mid to low tide is where it can be found on rocks living alongside barnacles and other seaweeds. Commercially harvesting the Pepper Dulse makes little sense. With it’s small size making it highly time consuming to harvest along with it’s scarcity and loss of flavour when dried.
I get a feeling of reverence and gratitiude when out harvesting this beautiful little red seaweed. It amazes me how something so small can give so much truely one of natures blessings.
As a way of sharing Pepper Dulse with you Sea Truffle gin has been created and if you find yourself in Sidmouth drop into the Dairy Shop and ask John for a sample and experience this beauty for yourself.