Years of doubt: Are seaweed and laver related?

01Are there any relationship between nori and seaweed?

According to GB/T 23597-2022 "General Rules for Quality of Dried Laver" and GB/T 23596-2009 "Seaweed" , the original laver algae is processed through the processes of selection, cleaning, impurity removal, cutting (or chopping), shaping (or not shaping), and drying to become dried laver. Add some seasoning to the dried laver and go through several rounds of processing to get seaweed.

The biggest difference between dried seaweed and nori is whether they can be eaten directly. Nori can be eaten directly, but dried seaweed is not ready-to-eat.

Nori is rich in protein and carotene, and seaweed with the "genes" of dried nori is also nutritious.

However, a lot of seasonings and food additives are added during the processing of seaweed, and the sodium (salt) content is high. Although the taste is good, don't be greedy~

02Milk drinks are not "real" milk

Pure/fresh milk ingredients only contain fresh milk , with no other ingredients added.

The main raw materials for formulating milk and milk beverages, in addition to milk/dairy products, also include water, food additives and other ingredients, so they are not "real" milk.

Due to the different main raw materials, the nutritional indicators of these products are also different. Take some products as examples:

GB 25190-2010 "National Food Safety Standard Sterilized Milk" stipulates that sterilized milk can be added with some or all of the raw materials of milk powder. In this case, the name must be marked as "reconstituted milk (milk)/containing XX% reconstituted milk (milk)";

GB 25191-2010 "National Food Safety Standard for Reconstituted Milk" stipulates that if reconstituted milk is made entirely of or partially added with milk powder, the name must also be marked with "reconstituted milk (milk)/containing XX% reconstituted milk (milk)";

In other words, the reconstituted milk we see may be sterilized milk or formula milk (the nutritional value of sterilized milk is better than that of formula milk), which can be distinguished based on the implementation standards on the packaging.

Tips for purchasing >>>

In terms of nutritional value, pure/fresh milk > formulated milk > milk beverages (including milk beverages). When purchasing, you can quickly distinguish by looking at the following information:

Product type/category: It will usually be stated directly whether it is milk, formula milk or milk-containing beverage.

Product standard number: The standard number for pure milk is GB 25190; the standard number for fresh milk is GB 19645; the standard number for formula milk is GB 25191; and the standard number for milk-containing beverages is GB/T 21732.

Ingredients: Pure/fresh milk only contains raw cow's milk; formula milk and milk-containing beverages also contain auxiliary ingredients such as water and white sugar.

Nutritional composition table: The protein content (per 100g of product) varies significantly. Pure/fresh milk cannot be less than 2.9g; formula milk cannot be less than 2.3g; milk-containing beverages cannot be less than 1g (of which lactic acid bacteria beverages cannot be less than 0.7g).

03It turns out that popsicles and ice cream are not the same thing

There is no difference in the raw materials and auxiliary materials of popsicles and ice cream, which are all drinking water, milk/dairy products, egg products, fruit products, soy products, etc.

The difference between the two mainly lies in their production process and nutritional value.

According to the definition of GB/T 31114-2014 "Frozen Drink Ice Cream", ice cream is a frozen food that expands in volume . The secret of the "expansion" lies in the production process. When air is mixed into the ice cream during the freezing process and it is constantly stirred, more, smaller, and denser bubbles will be formed. In this way, the ice cream will "expand" and have a soft and smooth taste .

When ice cream is produced, protein is used to lock the water molecules in the sugar water to form bound water, and no air is mixed in. Therefore, it has a high water content, a low expansion rate, and a high hardness , so it usually sticks to a wooden stick.

In terms of nutritional value, ice cream has higher requirements for total solids, fat and protein content than popsicles, and is also required to contain at least 6g of non-fat milk solids per 100g.

Some of you may not be familiar with these ingredients, so Professor V briefly summarizes them~

✅The higher the total solid matter ratio, the more solid the ingredients are and the richer the taste.

✅The higher the protein content, the richer the nutritional value;

✅Non-fat milk solids refer to the milk solids in cow's milk other than fat, such as protein and carbohydrates. The higher the content, the more nutritious it is.

In general, ice cream has higher nutritional value~

Of course, there may be exceptions. Since the national standard requires minimum production standards and there is no upper limit, the actual nutritional content of some popsicles may be higher than that of some ice creams.

Differentiate between popsicle and ice cream

Tips: Look at the product name

Look at the product standard number on the packaging: the standard number is GB/T 31114-2014 for ice cream, and the standard number is GB/T 31119-2014 for popsicles.