Customer Reviews

Hidaka - Premium Authentic Hokkaido Japanese Kombu Dried Kelp Seaweed (Hai Dai) Value Twin Pack - 2x 2.1 Oz

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this kombu with the idea that I would make dashi (Japanese broth) but I found it is also good for making pickled vegetables. I put cukes, daikon, raw green peppers, and anything else that I would like in a crunchy salad, in a glass jar with some sea salt, leaving it in the refrigerator. The vegetables give up their juices and soak in a brine of salt and juice.
The vegetables stay crunchy and flavorful. I put them on hamburgers and in salads. Even on a cracker with some cream cheese!
Shredded kombu (cut it with scissors after it has soaked a good long while in the salad) is a flavorful addition.

This is a delicious kombu kelp. Soak it in tepid water for a half hour and it's ready to use, with an aroma that will bring back memories of any coastline. I use mine in making dashi stock as well as for eating directly.

Be careful with the packaging, though. This comes as two separate sealed packages of seaweed bundled together with tape and cellophane; you don't want to pierce both inner packages until you're ready to use them, of course.

It's good konbu. For someone that doesn't have easier or cheaper access to good konbu, it's a good purchase.

It's hard to give an opinion of this, as this is the first time I've used it, but I thought it was quite good. I found the flavor suttle, especially for a seaweed, and you can sneek it into just about any dish from soups to rice to vegies. It is loaded with trace minerals and therefore very healthy so I was pleased to find its flavor and texture so nice. And since I couldn't find it around where I live, I guess the price is good too.

It's just a real pain to try to review ingredients, but here goes: I wanted to make miso soup from scratch. This involves Kombu and Bonito flakes. The biggest and best asian supermarket in my city is a former big neighborhood grocery store, but packed with about twice the number of goods. I actually LOVE shopping there... unless I have to find something new and in a hurry. By some miracle, I found the Bonito flakes. Later, I found out that Amazon has those (Nishimoto - Dried Shaved Bonito Flakes (15 Packs in 3 Bags) - 1.56 Oz) though in more quantity than I really wanted currently. If the recipe I have is any good, I'll be back to that Amazon page. But to make a rambling review longer, I set out to ask someone where to find Kombu. Somewhat bizarrely, this store straddles the border between a large asian community and a large hispanic community. Most of the staff in the asian market speaks Spanish and little English. One stocker I knew years back gave me funny looks when I talked to him. His English is fluent now, but he wasn't there the day I was shopping. One other person on staff is the son of the owners and speaks fluent English and Chinese. I finally got him to help me find the Kombu... only to find out that some other company rep stocked their japanese section for them and he had no clue if they had Kombu or where it would be if they did! Oy vey! Hijole! Gaisi de!

Well, now I have my Kombu. Thanks Amazon.

Hasta la vista, Yinger!

[Note to Amazon: Chinese unicode entered in the review space broke when reaching the preview.]