Japan is full of surprises; every toilet seat, subway map and dinner menu tosses a foreigner through a mental obstacle course. But, then there were those things that were entirely alien and unidentifiable, but turned out to be all gain no pain. Sea grapes would fall into the latter category. I spotted a small clamshell filled with strands of these delicate, translucent green pearls at the Tokyo green market, and of course I bought two. They were sold with a small packet of ponzu and a pair of chopsticks, so being the Sherlock Holmes that I am, I deduced they were meant to be dipped and eaten as-is.

The seaweed, Caulerpa lentillifera, which forms in tiny salty spheres, hails from the island of Okinawa, where, it is referred to as ”longevity seaweed,” because it has a high mineral and is low in calories. Whatever its health benefits (usually leveled by its pairing with beer as a bar food) this snack was worth the 13 hours of travel alone.