• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.1270-1276
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• 2013

Laver, a red algae belonging to the genus Porphyra tenera, is one of the most widely consumed edible seaweeds in Korea, China, and Japan. Lavers are usually consumed in dried, roasted, and seasoned forms to improve their palatability. We evaluated the composition of amino acids, minerals, and trace heavy metals in these three differently cooked forms of laver. The moisture and ash contents of three differently cooked lavers ranged from 1.49~9.69% and 6.07~10.31%, respectively. The crude protein and lipid content ranged from 17.24~36.88% and 0.52~42.42%, respectively. Dried laver was found to be a good source of amino acids such as taurine, alanine, and glutamic acid (871.10 mg, 833.53 mg, and 719.77 mg per 100 g dry weight, respectively). Laver was a good source of macro and micro minerals such as K, Ca, Mg, Na, P, I, and Fe, although laver more extensively cooked (roasted and seasoned) contained less minerals compared to the dried form. Mercury levels in the three differently cooked forms of laver were all less than 100 ng/g dry weight (the limit of detection with our methodology). The levels of arsenic were the most abundant elements in the differently cooked laver. There was a clear variation, depending on the cooking process, in terms of amino acid, mineral, and trace metal contents of laver.