Hijiki

Hijiki
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Diaphoretickes
Clade:	SAR
Clade:	Stramenopiles
Phylum:	Gyrista
Subphylum:	Ochrophytina
Class:	Phaeophyceae
Order:	Fucales
Family:	Sargassaceae
Genus:	Sargassum
Species:	S. fusiforme
Binomial name
Sargassum fusiforme (Harv.) Setch., 1931

Hijiki (ヒジキ, 鹿尾菜 or 羊栖菜, hijiki) (Sargassum fusiforme,

that grows wild on the rocky coastlines of East Asia.

Hijiki has been a part of the Japanese culinary sphere and diet for centuries. Hijiki has been sold in United Kingdom natural products stores for 30 years and its culinary uses have been adopted in North America.

Recent studies have shown that hijiki contains potentially toxic quantities of inorganic arsenic, and the food safety agencies of several countries (excluding Japan), including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have advised against its consumption.^[1][2][3]

In 1867 the word "hijiki" first appeared in an English-language publication: A Japanese and English Dictionary by James C. Hepburn.

Starting in the 1960s, the word "hijiki" started to be used widely in the United States,^{[citation needed]} and the product (imported in dried form from Japan) became widely available at natural food stores and Asian-American grocery stores, due to the influence of the macrobiotic movement, and in the 1970s with the growing number of Japanese restaurants.^{[citation needed]}

Hijiki is green to brown in colour when found in the wild. Fishermen and professional divers harvest the hijiki with a

from May to March. After collection, the seaweed is boiled and dried before being sold as dried hijiki. Once processed, dried hijiki turns black. To prepare dried hijiki for cooking, it is first soaked in water then cooked with ingredients like soy sauce and sugar to make a dish that goes by the same name.

In

is typically prepared with hijiki mixed in to give the dish known by the same name its characteristic grey color and texture.

In

(rice).

Several government food safety agencies advise consumers to avoid consumption of hijiki seaweed. Testing showed that it contains significantly higher concentrations of

The

Although no known illnesses have been associated with consuming hijiki seaweed to date, inorganic arsenic has been identified as

]

See also

• Arsenic poisoning

Further reading

Zou, Hui-xi; Pang, Qiu-Ying; Zhang, Ai-Qin (January 2015). "Excess copper induced proteomic changes in the marine brown algae Sargassum fusiforme". Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (2015). 111: 271–280.

PMID 25450944

.

External links

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency — Factsheet
• Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of Hong Kong — Hijiki and Arsenic
• Food Standards Agency of the United Kingdom — Hijiki: your questions answered
• New Zealand Food Safety Authority — Hijiki media release
• Seaweeds Used as Human Food

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