Medieval monks swore by it, Colmcille ruminated on it, and the celebrated Drimcong House chef, Gerry Galvin, bakes bread with it. Is dillisk a narcotic then, like the north Africa leaf, qat?
No, says Prof Michael Guiry of Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute in the University of Galway, who is participating in international research on the sea vegetable. He believes the term "vegetable" does more justice to the marine food than "weed".
The three-year £0.6 million project involves university teams in Norway, Northern Ireland, Galway and Spain, and is funded under the EU FAIR scientific programme. It aims to identify various types of dillisk or dulse, examine nutritional qualities, genetic composition, cultivation techniques, and research the market potential.
Those of us reared on the dried salty chew in seaside resorts like Bundoran already know it has a ready market. But compared to the Japanese, who consume 200 different types, the Irish seaweed eaters are a pathetic lot. There is still a strong association with "famine food", Prof Guiry believes, although his own research and the work of the Irish Seaweed Industry Organisation has done a lot to change perceptions.
Dillisk has a bigger sale in the North, home of Seamus Heaney's "dulse-ridden shores".
As Prof Guiry said a year ago in a Went Memorial Lecture at the RDS in Dublin, Ireland has only a small percentage stake in the international seaweed business which exceeds $4.5 bil lion (about £3.3 billion). Dillisk, Palmaria palmata, is one of more than 500 types of "vegetable" found on the 2,700-mile Irish coastline.
There are four to five main types in these regions, while the Pacific has five and the Antarctic three. The form collected by the monks in the 12th century is known as creathnach, which intertwines with mussels - lending it a distinctive crunch - on the intertidal zone.
It inspired a verse, originally attributed to Colmcille but now thought to have been written later:
seal ag buain duilsg do charraig;
seal ag aclaidh;
seal ag tabhairt bheadh do bhoctaibh;
seal i gcaracair. which translates as: a while gathering dillisk from the rock;
a while fishing;
a while giving food to the poor;
a while in my cell.
Prof Guiry's team intends to examine the DNA composition in collaboration with Queen's University Belfast, while the University of Trondheim will look at its nutritional qualities and the University of Oviedo in Spain will study the ecological aspects. Those dillisk addicts interested in following the project can hit the Internet link, and may even try out recipes on it like the Drimcong dillisk bread.
For divilment, here it is, with apologies to Mr Galvin:
Ingredients for one 900g/2lb savoury loaf are: 25g/1oz dried dillisk, soaked for five minutes in water; 110g/4oz melted butter; one large carrot, grated; four eggs; 50g/2oz caster sugar; pinch of salt 250g/9oz plain flour; 11/2 tsp baking powder
Oven: 140=B0C/275=B0F/Gas Mark 1
Method 1. Take dillisk out of water. Pat dry with a kitchen towel and chop finely.
2. Brush the insides of the loaf tin all over with a little butter. 3. In a mixing bowl combine remaining butter, eggs, dillisk, carrot and salt.
4. Fold in sieved flour and baking powder.
5. Fill the tin with cake mixture and bake for 40/50 min (a skewer inserted in the cake should come out clean).
6. Cool before turning out and slicing.
The website is http://seaweed.ucg.ie/food.html