Kombu
February 14, 2009 | 13 Comments
Other Names
dashima, dasima, haidai, kelp
Description
Kombu is a type of thick flat seaweed cultivated in the northern waters of Japan. Although it may sound like a plant, seaweed is technically classified as a type of algae. Kombu comes in many forms making it a versatile ingredient with uses ranging from soup stocks to wrappers and is even eaten as a snack. While it’s rare to find it fresh outside the areas where it’s harvested, it is dried, salted or vinegared and distributed all over the world.
What’s it taste like?
Because of the high concentration of glutamic acids, a building block of MSG, kombu is filled with umami. It’s not fishy at all, with a briny, almost mushroom-like flavour. The white powder on the outside is where much of the flavour is, so don’t wash it off.
Where do I get it?
You can find kombu at almost any Asian grocery store in bags. Dashi kombu typically comes in small rippled sheets about half the size of a credit card. Look for uniform sheets with lots of white powder on the outside. The bigger sheets are typically for rehydrating and wrapping around things such as fish. Salted kombu comes in thin strips and is covered in salt. If in doubt check the label. Most imported foods in the US have labels translated in English. If not you can look for bags with the following symbols either 出汁 or だし.
When is it best?
There’s no season and dried kombu will keep for a very long time.
How do I use it?
Kombu is most commonly used for making dashi and other soup stocks. The broth it produces is very mellow with a briny umami-filled flavour that bolsters other more flavourful dashi ingredients such as katsuobushi or niboshi. In larger sheets it can be rehydrated and used to wrap seafood or meat for stewing. The salted variety can be mixed with hot rice, or be added to porridge. There are also some snack varieties that are either dried or salted and vinegared and make a good accompaniment for alcoholic beverages.
Nutrition
Kombu is high in Iodine, Vitamin K, Folate, Magnesium, Calcium and Iron.
Similar Posts:
Comments
13 Responses to “Kombu”
Leave a Reply
-
Subscribe
love using different sea weeds in my cooking good to see some one give it a little publicity:-)
[...] stocks which are mostly seafood based, using umami-rich ingredients such as kezurikatsuo, niboshi, kombu and even shiitake mushrooms. By using these basic ingredients in different proportions you can [...]
[...] the soup and cooking until the rice is very soft. 1 qt soy milk 1/4 C katsuobushi 4″ sheet kombu 3 small carrots cut into chunks 3 small turnips cut into 6 wedges 3 Tbs white miso 1 Tbs sugar [...]
[...] tomato 6 very small tomatoes (about 1.5″ in diameter) ripe but firm 2 C cold water 2 pieces dashi kombu 1 Tbs kosher [...]
[...] sushi rice 4 C cold water 1 piece dashi kombu 3 1/3 C Japanese short grained [...]
[...] soup is made from a standard Japanese soup base called dashi, which combines water, kombu (dried seaweed), and bonito (dried fish flakes). Dashi can also be made with shitake mushrooms [...]
[...] last components, which require no cooking, are powdered sushi rice vinegar mix and salted kombu (both available in Asian [...]
[...] soup is made from a standard Japanese soup base called dashi, which combines water, kombu (dried seaweed), and bonito (dried fish flakes). Dashi can also be made with shitake mushrooms [...]
Great article. There’s a lot of good info here, though I did want to let you know something – I am running Mac OS X with the circulating beta of Firefox, and the look and feel of your blog is kind of funky for me. I can read the articles, but the navigation doesn’t function so great.
[...] soup is made from a standard Japanese soup base called dashi, which combines water, kombu (dried seaweed), and bonito (dried fish flakes). Dashi can also be made with shitake mushrooms [...]
[...] soup is made from a standard Japanese soup base called dashi, which combines water, kombu (dried seaweed), and bonito (dried fish flakes). Dashi can also be made with shitake mushrooms [...]
[...] soup is made from a standard Japanese soup base called dashi, which combines water, kombu (dried seaweed), and bonito (dried fish flakes). Dashi can also be made with shitake mushrooms [...]
[...] soup is made from a standard Japanese soup base called dashi, which combines water, kombu (dried seaweed), and bonito (dried fish flakes). Dashi can also be made with shitake mushrooms [...]