sharing raw, vegan recipes and advice
A deliciously moreish, mermaid-luscious chocolate mousse set with wild harvest Leighton Beach Australian Red Algae.
(Leighton Beach is near Fremantle, Perth Western Australia)
No more fruitless hunting for suppliers of expensive carrageenan as the wild product is all over the beach!!!
This recipe is based on Cafe Gratitude's delicious I AM BLISS hazelnut cream flan but uses almond milk, fresh vanilla pods and was set in a takeaway food container rather than a nut crust base.
A few strands of sun dried Leighton Red Algae (a little goes a long way. NB if fresh use more.)
2 cups almond milk
ΒΌ c. agave nectar
8 fresh Californian dates, seeded
3 heaped dessert spoons (more or less) raw cacao powder
1 and a half fresh vanilla pods
pinch of salt
3 teaspoons lecithin
3 heaped dessertspoons virgin coconut oil (roughly quarter of a cup)
Blend well in a strong food blender. (My Sunbeam Cafe Series has just bitten the dummy after only five months :( _ )
You will know if the mousse will set if it thickens a little in the blender.
Pour it into a pie shell or bowl (or shaped mould) and refrigerate for a few hours.
NB Many seaweeds in the Red Algae family are a traditional food source. They grow all over the world and are harvested in several countries for commercial agar and carrageenan. The wild seaweed I used in this recipe was ( I think) of the species Soliereia and the genus Areschougia - very similar to Irish Moss.
Finding this exciting raw food ingredient so close to where I live is thrilling and I hope that others who live in clean coastal areas might also go beachcombing for ingredients for their raw food recipes.
This being said I have posted this recipe as a pointer and a starting point for people to do their own research!
Hi Helen,,,,,, Did you try the recipe? There is no fishy taste at all - just light but rich chocolate and a creamy mouth feel. Even my anti-raw husband is hooked on this one.
But you should be sure that it really is Irish Moss you are using as I wrote to a local university asking about the Australian red algaes and got a reply that said there are lots of compounds in many seaweeds they think might prove carcinogenic.... :(.
I have some fresh Irish Moss, which is also a red algae. Do you think that would work? Does your dessert really taste like chocolate, or does it taste fishy / algae-like? It would be great if you cannot taste the algae, then my non-raw friends would also like it.
Cheers Helen
I wonder what this would taste with orange rind...
Thankyou SivartM :) .... I have been making this, as posted, lots and lots in recent weeks for people who *are* chocolate fans but also tentatively trying other flavours.
Using dried apricots and finely ground almonds gives an interesting version.... Next time I'll make a note of the amounts .
Cheers :)
Hello spiritedmama...... yes the base recipe calls for (I think) a half ounce of irish moss.
Meanwhile I discovered two other commercial alginate products here in Australia called Kappa and Iota which are sold by some gourmet food shops - maybe they are also available where you are?
UPDATE: Basically irish moss is made of a combination of one or more of kappa and iota and lambda carrageenans. These are the three different types of carrageenan gels ...and they are also found in many other red algal seaweeds.
Some examples:
Kappa Carrageenan - Eucheuma cottonii
Iota Carrageenan - Eucheuma spinosum
Lambda Carrageenan - Gigartina acicularis
I didn't use lecithin until recently but I like it now for it's apparently unique emulsifying quality. Off the top of my head the closest alternative would be to add a quarter of an avocado and up the coconut oil a bit. Unfortunately whenever I have tried to grind chia seeds as an emulsifier I felt they added a 'gritty' consistency
could you use irish moss instead of the other seaweed? What about chia seeds as a replacement for lecithin? I don't use lecithin....
I wouldn't like it (I'm not a chocolate fan), but it looks great! I wish I lived near a beach!
WHOA!!! That is beautiful.