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Reader Shelley Fodor wrote in asking about the Welsh specialty known as Laver Bread, a food traditionally prepared for the feast day of Wales's patron saint, St. David. This no doubt is more than she wanted to know about the subject.

Laver or purple laver (also known as black butter, purple seavegetable, or sloke) is scientifically known as Porphyra umbilicalis. In Chinese it's jee choy; in Gaelic it's sleabchan, sleabhach, or sleadai; in Swedish it's veckad purpurtang — although it's best known, culinarily, as nori, the dried sheets of seaweed used to wrap maki-type sushi. Other Porphyra species that have been used as food include P. linearis, P. tenera, and P. yezoensis.

They're harvested in winter at low tide, when they're found attached to vertical surfaces such as rocks or piers. Laver is prepared in the British Isles by slow simmering, as long as five hours, to form a thick gelatinous purée. It can be purchased online in canned form from Wales Direct.

Laver bread, or Bara Lawr as it known in Wales, is usually served with bacon and/or cockles, the bacon being from the back not the side of the pig, more like Canadian bacon than American bacon.

The recipe is almost absurdly simple:

Laver bread seasoned with a little freshly squeezed orange juice is sometimes served as an accompaniment to Welsh mutton, a high-quality meat from small local sheep. A paste of prepared laver flavored with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper is also spread on fried bread to form a sort of Celtic crostini.

Nutritionally, laver is a very desirable food, yielding high protein (15–37%), low fat (less than 2.5%), good vitamin C, calcium, and iodine, along with traces of other minerals.