Japanese Washoku is determined by UNESCO as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The key to mastering the delicious Washoku is the Japanese dashi. Japan is surrounded by sea, and the culture of extracting dashi from fish and other seafood has been developed since ancient times. This time we will take a look at Japanese dashi!

What is the characteristic of Japanese dashi?

Katsuo-dashi is made from "bonito flakes (katsuobushi)" cut from dried bonito. It is rich in protein and has a strong aroma of fish, so it matches well with mild vegetable dishes. The use of bonito as an ingredient can be traced back to ancient times around 1300 years ago.

It is said that people originally extended the shelf life of the hard-to-preserved bonito by natural drying and smoking. Once they found that soup with dried bonito flakes was unexpectedly delicious and from then on people started to use Katsuo-dashi for cooking.

Konbu Dashi is made from konbu that sun-dried for 2 years. Its understated taste, concentration and aroma can match with a wide variety of ingredients, and can eliminate the smell of fish and meat, bring out and reconcile the taste of the ingredients.

Niboshi is made from small fish dried after boiled in salt water. The taste of Niboshi in different areas varies. It is well-matched with Nimono, miso soup, udon, soba soup and so on.

Japanese Washoku seeks perfect dashi.

Bring out and reconcile the delicious flavor of the ingredients themselves.
The balance between dashi and ingredients is the original intention of Japanese Washoku.