kombu

Its dark purple color might just romance you. Look for kombu in thick strips or sheets. Eating it adds iodine, calcium, magnesium and iron to your diet — easily added dry to the cooking liquid for rice, beans or soup. (Or try this traditional Japanese hotpot called Oden.) There's an extra advantage to kombu, too: cooking a postage stamp-sized piece of dried kombu with beans will help make them more digestible. Cooking hint: Keep in mind that kombu doubles its volume and readily soaks up water, so add extra liquid to broths, beans and stocks whenever you add dried kombu.