Cold Sea-Vinegar Jelly

Cold sea-vinegar jelly is a side-dish unique to Dalian: seaweeds such as deer-horn weed are boiled to release their gel, set into a jelly, then shredded and dressed with garlic, vinegar, soy, sesame oil and coriander, clear and slippery with a sharp, fragrant tang.

Sea-vinegar jelly grew from coastal Dalian's use of seaweed, where fishing families once boiled deer-horn weed gathered from the shore into a cooling jelly, which gradually became a familiar street side-dish and an authentic taste of the seaside town.

Cut and dressed to order at street stalls and eaten at once with garlic and vinegar, it is slippery, sharp and cooling, taken as a summer side-dish or a palate-cleanser after a seafood feast.

The natural gel drawn from seaweed, the clear jelly form and the sharp garlic-vinegar dressing are what set this apart from inland cold jellies.