Sea Water

Everyone likes to bring home bits and bobs from the seaside. It's primal. It's instinct. Beach combing is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Our garden, certainly, is full of yellow buoys and lengths of rope, eerie driftwood and wave sculpted glass.

So, next time, how about bringing home some seawater? It’s a fascinating substance, part water, part earth’s crust, part dissolved gasses and a fair bit of minerally salt. We written already about freeing sea salt from its grasp, but the liquid itself is also great to cook with.

Nothing tastes nicer than a new potato, dug from the garden and simmered in seawater. Just try it with beetroot, or any type of shellfish.

Apparently scientists have tried taking apart seawater, and then putting all the components back together again, putting the various elements into fresh water. And the funny thing is, the fish can tell. Put a sea fish into a reconstituted tank of sea water, and even if all the components are there to give it life, it will still die.

Seawater is a magical liquid, the ultimate foraged food. You can't fool the fish.