Katsuobushi

Japanese Dried fish (shaved)

Katsuobushi

鰹節 (Japanese)

Also called Bonito flakes · Dried bonito

Smoky, savoury and slightly sweet, with a clean fish flavour that rounds dashi and finishes dishes.

What it is

Skipjack tuna that has been simmered, smoked, dried and often mould-fermented into a wood-hard block, then shaved into flakes.

How it tastes

Smoky, savoury and slightly sweet, with a clean fish flavour that rounds dashi and finishes dishes.

  • Savoury/Umami
  • Smoky

How to use it

Add to hot kombu water for dashi and strain; scatter over okonomiyaki, tofu and rice where the flakes dance in the heat; mix with soy for a rice seasoning.

  • Base/Stock
  • Finishing

Where it comes from

One of the most laboriously made ingredients in any cuisine, taking months to produce, and the source of dashi's smokiness. Not vegetarian; kombu-only dashi is the plant-based alternative.

Tasted and scored by us · the same axes as every product page How it tastes · four axes

Sweet
None
Heat
None
Salt
Lightly salted
Sour
None

Salt is a formulation property; on a raw ingredient it is read from the ingredient itself.

Across cuisines · not a substitute

Recipes arrive with the shelf

A recipe that calls for a line we cannot supply is an advertisement for someone else. Japanese recipes go live the week the platform does.

Products that contain it

This entry is complete and readable now. The products behind it are not on the shelf yet — Japanese is the fifth platform to launch, after Arabian & Levant. This entry is complete now. The products behind it are not on the shelf yet — Japanese is the fifth platform to launch.

Tell me when Japanese lands The Japanese platformShop what is live — Thai