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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookThere is a lot of excitement about Kelp Noodles, and some great recipes, but isn’t anyone else concerned about the smell of formaldehyde that overpowers you when you open the package? I just received my first case yesterday, and though the smell and taste can be eliminated by thorough soaking and rinsing, do you think the noodles are free from toxicity? Has anyone had them tested?
I don’t want to put a damper on the enthusiasm, but since health is our priority here, let’s not let our cravings (for a noodle substitute) over power our common sense.
I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts.
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My jury’s still out on them as well. I opened the package to find an odour that I didn’t care for (formaldehyde … really???). I rinsed and rinsed and soaked and rinsed some more. After at least an hour-long soak, I tried to eat a bit, but the texture turned me right off. It was like crunching on way undersoaked cellophane noodles. So crunchy … and a weird lingering flavour. I’ll admit, I’m not a seaweed lover. I like nori and a bit of wakame in a miso soup, but beyond that, I’m not loving the seaweed, so maybe that was part of the problem. I have one more package, but I haven’t had the stomach to try them again. I keep hoping someone will enlighten me as to how to lose that bizarre crunchiness, but nobody else seems to have had an issue with it, so maybe I’m the oddball.
how do you know they’re packed in formaldehyde?
I don’t know for sure that they are packed in formaldehyde, but that is what it smells like. The last time I smelled formaldehyde was in my high school biology class, many, many years ago—-so I’m not confident of my “diagnosis”. Whatever it is, it is an awful chemical smell.
Is it possible it’s just the smell of slimy seaweed noodles?
I would like to know why they are not green. Kelp is dark green, so how come they are clear? The other bother some thought is why do they last soooooo long in the package. Then of course the crunch. My last resort will be putting them in the dehydrator over night. That may help. Tho I think zucc. and other veggies are just as good. I suppose we could always ask the company. Anyone up for asking these hummmm, are they really good for me questions?
Only one layer of kelp is green – they don’t use that layer. The smell is definitely NOT formaldehyde. :)
I make a sauce containing lemon, garlic & salt (along with whatever else I’m using to flavor & add body to the sauce), and let the kelp noodles sit in it for 15 minutes or so, and they soften.
As with anything else: listen to your body! :)
I found that when soaked for ten to fifteen minutes they lose the crunchiness although if you dont eat them all and put the remaining ones, it says to store them in water, which I did, but when I went back the next day to eat the rest, even though they were still in water, they were crunchy again, even after being rinsed and they taste of absolutely nothing and smell of nothing too so they need some sort of sauce or to be added to a soup but as I have no knowledge of formaldehyde either I dont know if they are in packaged in that! I hope not!
I don’t care for them, but I didn’t like the soba or soy noodles I tried either. The taste never did much for me, but mainly it was a texture thing.
If I am craving pasta/noodles that badly then I grab my julienne peeler and make my own from zuchinni or a mix of veggies(these are more for extra umph). I am actually a big fan of pasta made from summer squash, and it loves me back much better than regular pasta(sends me into major stomach pain).
Mass produced seaweed products are not that ecological sound either. I like to think of seaweed as a wild treat that I enjoy when I wild harvest it. There are also some small local seaweed companies in maine, oregon, and california, that don’t over harvest the waters. My favorite foods to spiralize for pasta are daikon radish, english cucumber (has very few seeds) and celery root. Cerery root, once it has marinated in sauce for an hour or so is really “cooked” tasting.
I agree. Kelp noodles smell like plastic, feel like plastic and pretty much taste like plastic...
Plastic wrap may not be processed over 100 degrees either but I still wouldn't recommend eating it.