well for the first time I finally broke down and tried sushi at home. I
purchased a Sushi kit that had all the goodies inside but the Nori has me
concerned. The sheets are very brittle and have a smell somewhat like
tobacco.

Is this normal?

miket wrote:
well for the first time I finally broke down and tried sushi at home. I
purchased a Sushi kit that had all the goodies inside but the Nori has
me concerned. The sheets are very brittle and have a smell somewhat
like tobacco.

Hmmm.. shouldn't be too brittle. Sounds like its rather old. As for smell,
hard to say since that's very subjective.

--
Dan

Kids, don't try eating raw fish at home without adult supervision!

"miket" wrote in message
...
well for the first time I finally broke down and tried sushi at home. I
purchased a Sushi kit that had all the goodies inside but the Nori has me
concerned. The sheets are very brittle and have a smell somewhat like
tobacco.

Is this normal?

Nori being "brittle" is normal. Old Nori is usually non-brittle from
absorbing moisture.
Of course if it's so brittle you can't work with it at all it may be a
problem.
Pass a small amount of your Nori over a steaming cup of hot water to see how
that
Nori absorbs the moisture and if it seems to return to a consistency that
you are used to.
Although many dried products may smell somewhat like tobacco, I personally
can't
remember ever running accross Nori that did.
Is there a brand name on that Nori?

Musashi

miket;1523290 Wrote:
well for the first time I finally broke down and tried sushi at home. I

purchased a Sushi kit that had all the goodies inside but the Nori has
me
concerned. The sheets are very brittle and have a smell somewhat like
tobacco.

Is this normal?

I can't say I've ever experienced nori that smelled like tobacco.
However, the sheets should not be extremely brittle which would be a
sign of being overly dried out. You could attempt to carefully "steam"
a piece to see if you can get some moisture into it.

But, frankly, you are best off to spend the money on some fresh nori.
The quality of the nori is a make-or-break item when it comes to sushi.
If it doesn't taste good on its own (break off a piece and taste it), it
shouldn't be used for sushi.

Cheers! -- Rik


--
Rik Brown
Message Origin: TRAVEL.com