Dashi

Dashi is a cornerstone of Japanese cuisine, providing an essential foundation for a variety of dishes such as miso soup, noodle broth, and simmering liquids, all of which highlight that rich umami flavor. It's also utilized in the batter for popular grilled dishes like okonomiyaki (savory pancakes) and takoyaki (octopus balls). The traditional method of making dashi involves heating water with kombu (kelp) and katsuobushi (fermented skipjack tuna), resulting in a deeply savory broth.

While homemade dashi was once the standard, nowadays, instant dashi has gained popularity due to its convenience. However, it’s important to note that instant versions often have a more intense flavor owing to the addition of chemical enhancers.

There are also various types of dashi that can be prepared by soaking different ingredients in water to extract their flavors. For example, kombu dashi is made simply by soaking kelp. Niboshi dashi, on the other hand, uses small dried sardines (with their heads and entrails removed), and shiitake dashi is created by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms.

Interestingly, the umami flavor in dashi was first identified in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, who discovered that the taste was due to our taste receptors responding to glutamic acid. This discovery led to umami being recognized as the "fifth taste" alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.