What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (2024)

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (1)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (2)

Dashi and
Umami –
The Essence of
Japanese Cuisine

Although Japanese cuisine is rich in diversity and visually attractive, there is one element underlying its appeal that is not apparent to the eye. This is a deceptively simple element called“dashi,” the stock that forms the basis of, and invisibly permeates much of, Japanese cuisine.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (3)

Dashi differs from other kinds of stock in that rather than using simple ingredients boiled over a long period, as is the case with Western bouillon, it uses carefully prepared ingredients,patiently matured, which are only soaked in water or heated briefly so as to extract nothing but the very essence of the ingredients’ flavor.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (4)

Dashi most commonly utilizes a combination of kombu (kelp seaweed) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), but other ingredients used to make dashi are shiitake mushrooms and niboshi (small driedfish). Dashi making has evolved over a long period of time. Boiling is known to have been used in Japanese cooking since the Jomon period (c. 13,000–300 BC), and the stock from shellfish and fish bones was used to flavor otherdishes.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (5)

By the seventh century, a dashi using kombu and katsuobushi had developed. This was refined further and has become Japan’s most indispensable cooking stock, generally used in two forms – ichiban(primary) dashi and niban (secondary) dashi. Despite its hidden role, dashi could be said to be the heart of Japanese cuisine, not because of the prominence of its own flavor but because of the way it enhances and harmonizesthe flavors of other ingredients. The secret of Japanese cuisine is the art of enhancing and harmonizing.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (6)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (7)

Umami – The Key
to Dashi’s Taste

A single word holds the key to the magic of dashi – umami. In 1908, Prof. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University discovered a taste in kombu dashi not accounted for by any combination of thebasic tastes of sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. He identified the source of this taste as glutamate. The taste itself he dubbed, “umami.”

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (8)

In 1913 and 1957, there followed the discovery of inosinate and guanylate, respectively, as sources of umami. Since the 1980s, further research has led to a wideinternational acceptance of umami as the fifth taste. The ingredients of dashi are all rich in the substances that are the source of umami. Kombu has the highest natural levels of glutamate of any foodstuff in the world.Katsuobushi and niboshi contain high levels of inosinate and dried shiitake mushrooms of guanylate. The benefits of umami are multiple. Aside from being the fifth basic taste, it also has a synergistic effect. When twosources of umami are combined, the umami taste is boosted, producing a result greater than the sum of the ingredients. Umami also serves to enhance other tastes, bringing a satisfying fullness and freshness to the food itpermeates.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (9)

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (10)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (11)

What is Umami?

Umami is the fifth taste, joining sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. These are unique tastes that cannot be created by mixing other tastes and are known as the basic or primary tastes. Umami is ageneral term used mainly for substances combining the amino acid glutamate and/or the nucleotides inosinate and guanylate, with minerals such as sodium and potassium.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (12)

Whether something tastes good or not is a comprehensive yet subjective evaluation determined by elements such as taste, aroma, texture and temperature, besides other factors such as appearance,color and shape, as well as one’s physical condition, surrounding environment, cultural background, and previous experiences. Of these various elements, umami in balance with the other basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, andbitter) plays an important role in determining the deliciousness of a dish.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (13)What is Umami

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (14)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (15)

Dashi Ingredients

The Japanese stock known as dashi is an indispensable part of Japanese cuisine. Made using a number of very special ingredients, it serves to transform the flavor of any number of dishes. thesubtle flavor of most types of dashi might not be easily identified in a dish; what dashi does, however, is to accentuate and draw out the flavor of other savory ingredients in the dish, resulting in an increased depth,intensity, and complexity in flavor. How the dashi achieves this is intrinsically linked to umami, the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (16)

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (17)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (18)

Dashi Ingredients – Kombu (Kelp)

Kombu, which grows in abundance off the northern island of Japan, Hokkaido, is harvested and dried before use. It can also be used on its own to make vegetarian dashi. The choicest kombu (kelp)used to be shipped with great care from far off Hokkaido to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan that flourished for nearly a thousand years. In the Heian Period (794–1185), shojin ryori, a type of vegetarian cooking, wasintroduced along with the teachings of Buddhism that warned against the taking of life. The ingredients used in shojin ryori consist entirely of vegetables and soybean products – meat, fish, or seafood are never used. Kombudashi (kelp stock) is indispensable for enhancing the taste of the vegetables used in shojin ryori.

Umami rich ingredientsKombu(Kelp)

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (19)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (20)

Dashi Ingredients – Katsuobushi

Katsuobushi is made of bonito or skipjack tyna, a sea fish that appears in Japanese cuisine in a number of guises. The fish is dried and then impregnated with a beneficial mold that inducesfermentation, leading to a deeper, richer flavor. The process takes several months and results in a surprisingly hard, yet flavorsome, foodstuff. Once the blocks are ready, they are shaved, using a special plane, for use incooking. Other fish such as tuna, mackerel, and sardine can also be used in this way.

Umami rich ingredientsKatsuobushi

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (21)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (22)

Dashi Ingredients – Dried Shiitake

Another ingredient common in vegetarian dashi is Japan’s best-known indigenous mushroom, the shiitake. It is sun-dried to intensify the taste before being soaked in water to create a deliciousstock that complies with the strict rules of shojin (Buddhist vegetarian) cuisine.

Umami rich ingredientsDried Shiitake

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (23)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (24)

Dashi Ingredients – Niboshi

The other main ingredient used in dashi is niboshi, a term that covers a number of different types of small, dried fish, such as anchovy and pilchard. They are traditionally sun-dried and thencooked in water to create the stock, which has a strong taste with a slightly bitter edge, and is suited to robust dishes, such as miso soup and hotpots.

Umami rich ingredientsNiboshi

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (25)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (26)

Primary Dashi –
Ichiban Dashi

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (27)

Classic dashi is made using kelp and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). A range of stocks of different character can be created from just these two ingredients. The most prized is ichiban(primary) dashi, which is made by soaking or gently heating the finest kombu and briefly adding katsuobushi. It is used in dishes, such as clear soups, where the aroma and quality of the stock is of utmost importance.Meanwhile, niban (secondary) dashi is made by reusing the ingredients from ichiban dashi to create a less refined but more versatile stock.

Ingredients

  • 3 L soft water
    100 ml water
    20 g ma kombu
    80 g dried bonito flakes
    (bonito honkarebushi, chiai removed)

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (28)

    Ma Kombu
    Ma kombu gives a delicate color and premium quality sweetness to dashi.
    It is relatively clearer than other kinds.

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    Bonito Honkarebushi, Chiai Removed Thin flakes of dried bonito are used; the chiai part of the fish is not included. These are used chiefly to heighten the aroma of the dashi.

Preparation method

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (30)

    Place the kombu in a pan with the water and leave to soak. Allow about 1.5 hours in winter and 20–30 min in summer. If using a large pan, go straight to step (2), as the kombu will have enough time to soak as the waterheats.

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (31)

    Heat until just before it reaches boiling point. Aim to take it out at the point at which small bubbles appear in the pan. If the kombu is left too long, it will spoil and thus taint the dashi.

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    Pour 100 ml water to ensure that the temperature is just below 100°C.

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    Turn off the heat and immediately add the bonito flakes. When the flakes sink to the bottom of the pan, remove the scum that has risen to the surface.

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    Immediately strain the dashi using a cotton cloth.

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    The ichiban dashi is ready to use.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (36)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (37)

More about Japanese Dashi

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (38)

    Kombu dashi is a dashi taken from the kombu, plant. The kombu is cultivated in Hokkaido and a part of Tohoku Japan.

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (39)

    Ichiban dashi (first brewed dashi) is based on kombu dashi to which katsuobushi is added. In addition to the glutamate and aspartate of kombu, umami from katsuobushi; glutamate and nucleotide inosinate are added. Withthe aroma and flavor of katsuobushi, it has strong umami. Some ryotei, Japanese high-end restaurants, use tuna bushi instead of katsuobushi.

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (40)

    A common way to make niban dashi (second brewed dashi) is to add half as much of the water used in ichiban dashi onto kombu and the katsuobushi used in ichiban dashi, then cook it slowly. It brings stable umami and goeswell with simmered dishes and miso soup.

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (41)

    Compared with katsuobushi, niboshi dashi has a slightly more fishy taste. It can be used for dried food and pungent ingredients and miso soup.

  • What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (42)

    To prepare dashi for shojin, vegetarian dishes, kombu is mainly used. Fish and meat are not allowed to be used in Buddhism, so katsuobushi and animal bone cannot be used. Besides kombu, dried shiitake mushroom, soybeans, dried gourd, or vegetable skin is used. Dried shiitake mushroom has a stronger umami and aroma out of these; however, its strong character unbalances the taste. So please be careful about how much you use.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (43)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (44)

Umami Synergistic Effect in Dashi

Umami substance in Kombu dashi and ichiban dashi from a luxurious traditional ryotei restaurant in Kyoto. The umami substance found in kombu dashi is glutamate alone, one of the amino acids,whereas in ichiban dashi, approximately the same amount of the glutamate and inosinate was found.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (45)

Kombu dashi contains umami of glutamate, a kind of amino acid. In ichiban dashi, the synergistic effect that occurs from glutamate and inosinate of nucleotide makes us taste umami 8 times morethan the quantity of the real umami substance. A research study reported that umami synergy becomes the strongest when the amounts of glutamate and inosinate are almost the same. So, the recipe of ichiban dashi served atrestaurants in Kyoto can be said to be very reasonable.

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (46)

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (47)What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (48)

Healthy Japanese cuisine in the
global spotlight

Recent years have seen a growing shift in the developed world toward fewer calories and animal fats, as people aimed to prevent lifestyle diseases and maintain good health. As part of thisdietary trend, Japanese cuisine has enjoyed burgeoning popularity, thanks to its health properties. Rather than relying on animal fats, Japanese cooking uses the umami of dashi to highlight the intrinsic flavors ofingredients, and chefs from all over the world have started visiting Japan to study these cooking techniques.

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In learning how to make Japanese dashi, they master the use of umami as an alternative to animal fats before going on to develop their own approaches to umami-oriented cooking. For instance, akaiseki-style bento box made by one traditional Japanese restaurant uses over 40 different ingredients yet contains fewer than 500 calories. The secret is the Japanese cooking technique of using the umami of dashi to enhanceflavors.

Umami in Washoku

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center (2024)

FAQs

What is Dashi? | Umami Information Center? ›

The Umami Information Center (UIC) was established in 1982 in order to convey information about umami as a basic taste as well as general information about umami in an accurate manner based on facts.

Is dashi the same as MSG? ›

A lot of people wonder, is dashi MSG? In short, no, dashi is not the same as MSG (aka monosodium glutamate). Dashi is the word for Japanese “soup stock.” However, dashi is closely tied to the phrase “umami”, which means “the fifth taste”.

What is dashi made of? ›

Dashi most commonly utilizes a combination of kombu (kelp seaweed) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), but other ingredients used to make dashi are shiitake mushrooms and niboshi (small dried fish).

Why is dashi so important? ›

Despite its hidden role, dashi could be said to be the heart of Japanese cuisine, not because of the prominence of its own flavor, but because of the way it enhances and harmonizes the flavors of other ingredients. The secret of Japanese cuisine is this art of enhancing and harmonizing.

Is dashi powder healthy? ›

As a matter of fact, some experts say that dashi is full of nutrients and health benefits. Weight control: katsuo (dried bonito) and seaweed contain amino acid or glutamic acid that can help control your appetite. Fight tiredness: certain types of amino acid in dashi also helps your body recover from tiredness quicker.

What is a substitute for dashi? ›

Soy Sauce

Do Japanese chefs use MSG? ›

MSG is an abbreviation for monosodium glutamate and is an ingredient that is frowned upon in the United States but widely used in Japanese food.

What are the side effects of dashi? ›

Side Effects of Dashi are Headache, Nosebleeds, Insomnia (difficulty in sleeping), Erythema (skin redness), Nasal congestion (stuffy nose), Dizziness, Nausea, Dyspepsia, Hot flushes, Shortness of breath, Visual disturbance.

Does dashi go bad? ›

Prepared dashi stock -- when homemade -- will typically last only 1-2 days in the refrigerator due to the natural elements used in its preparation. If you've frozen your dashi, you can expect it to keep for about a month, with some minor loss of flavor complexity. How do you tell if dashi is bad?

Is dashi very fishy? ›

Niban dashi is the second brew of the leftover kombu and katsuobushi used to make ichiban dashi. This gives a less intense flavor to the dashi it produces, with a strong fishy smell. This is thus suitable for general recipes.

Can you eat dashi by itself? ›

Dashi is often used as a broth and poured over a dish to accentuate the existing flavor properties. It's important to note that dashi supplements a dish, and it is not something you'd consume on its own.

What does dashi taste like? ›

Look up umami in the dictionary and dashi is what you'll find. It tastes as rich and complex as a broth or stock that's been simmering for hours, but it takes less than 15 minutes to make and, in many cases, is built on just one or two ingredients.

Is dashi high in iodine? ›

Kombu kelp (which is often used in dashi broth) is extremely high in iodine—a single sheet of it can contain nearly 3,000 micrograms. Nori, the seaweed used in sushi, contains between 16 and 43 micrograms per sheet. (So you'd need a little over three sushi rolls to meet your daily quota!)

Is it OK to boil dashi? ›

Bring the awase dashi, made from the Classic Dashi, to a boil, then add the mushrooms and reduce the heat to a simmer. The goal is to keep the soup warm, but just below a boil that would reduce the liquid.

Is Hondashi the same as dashi? ›

Although the standard dashi recipe involves soaking kelp for hours before simmering it briefly in heated water to extract its flavour, many eateries depend on Hondashi, a commercial-quality dashi powder containing monosodium glutamate, to add taste to their dishes.

What is a substitute for MSG? ›

Soy sauce is a good substitute, rich in umami. As with broth cubes, first check the list of ingredients to ensure that there is no MSG added. Oyster sauce, fish sauce (nam pla), and Worcestershire sauce can also be used to enhance the taste of dishes. Being high in salt, they should be used in moderation.

What else is MSG called? ›

MSG can go by these and many other synonymous names as well, including monosodium salt, monohydrate, monosodium glutamate, monosodium glutamate monohydrate, monosodium L-glutamate monohydrate, MSG monohydrate, sodium glutamate monohydrate, UNII-W81N5U6R6U, L-Glutamic acid, monosodium salt, and monohydrate.

Is miso the same as MSG? ›

Miso paste is a fermented paste made by aging soy beans with salt, koji and other ingredients until they have a very concentrated flavor. It contains high amounts of glutamic acid and salt, but not MSG extract.

Does seaweed have MSG in it? ›

MSG occurs naturally in many foods, such as tomatoes and cheeses. People around the world have eaten glutamate-rich foods throughout history. For example, a historical dish in the Asian community is a glutamate-rich seaweed broth.

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