Wel-pac Dashi Kombu Dried Seaweed (Pack of 4)

I usually have Miso soup every day made from a Dashi broth. This Kombu is great. I usually soak the Kombu overnight before using it the next day. I use it in conjunction with bonito flake and it tastes great.Will definitely buy again.

According to a scientific study of Japanese seaweed eaters, "When kombu is boiled in water for 15 minutes, it can lose up to 99% of its iodine content, while iodine in sargassum, a similar brown seaweed, loses around 40% [28,29]. Processed kelp is often boiled in dye for half an hour ("ao-kombu" or "kizami-kombu") before hanging to dry [21], a process which can reduce seaweed iodine content before it is consumed. When kelp is used to flavor soup stocks, the seaweed is often removed after boiling, resulting in soup stock high in iodine."Many people avoid eating kombu because it contains way too much iodine. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, people with an extremely high iodine intake will substantially increase their risk of developing thyroid papillary cancer but substantially decrease their risk of developing thyroid follicular cancer. Thyroid papillary cancer is less aggressive and has a better prognosis than thyroid follicular cancer.However, iodine, selenium, and zinc are the 3 antioxidant minerals in human nutrition. In my opinion, a high intake of these 3 beneficial antioxidant minerals might very likely slightly lower our risk of developing all cancers. Thyroid cancer is extremely rare. Even in Japan, where people eat a huge quantity of iodine from seaweed, only 1 man in 100,000 develops thyroid cancer and only 3 women in 100,000 develop thyroid cancer. Hiroshima and Nagasaki had the highest rates of thyroid cancer in Japan, not the northeast coast of Japan where seaweed consumption is extremely high.Technically, "brown" seaweeds such as kombu (kelp), arame (kelp), limu moui (kelp), wakame, mozuku, and hijiki are not plants. Biologists have placed "brown" seaweeds under Kingdom Chromalveolata instead of Kingdom Plantae. However, "red" seaweeds such as nori (laver), ogo (limu), and dulse are classified as plants. "Brown" seaweeds have rootlike structures that cling to the ocean bottom but they lack true roots, true stems, and true leaves. Also, all "brown" seaweeds are rich in the extremely beneficial marine polysaccharide, fucoidan, and the extremely beneficial marine carotenoid, fucoxanthin. By contrast, green vegetables growing on land and "red" seaweeds are rich in the carotenoids, lutein, zeaxanthin, neoxanthin, and violaxanthin but contain zero fucoxanthin and zero fucoidan.Biologists have shown that the reason why nobody who lives within 300 miles of the ocean has ever developed an iodine deficiency is because the kelp growing near the shoreline manufacture large amounts of iodine gas which escapes to float above the surface of the ocean and gets blown inland by the wind.Attached to the surface of all "brown" seaweeds are probiotic saltwater bacteria which manufacture an enzyme which allows humans to digest the extremely beneficial polysaccharides and extremely beneficial carotenoids in "brown" seaweeds. Without these probiotic saltwater bacteria, "brown" seaweeds would pass through our digestive tracts without being digested.Yes, this product is delicious but because salt always contains cancer-causing nitrosamines, it's a good idea to soak this product in water for at least 5 minutes to remove as much salt as possible. This product was farmed in the coastal areas of South Korea.

I use this for both Japanese and Korean recipes. Good product

I made miso soup today using wel-pac dashi kombu. I let it soak in water for 30 minutes, and then I tried it. Not bad at all, it has mellow sweet flavor. I mixed with bonito flakes and the flavor jumped 3 fold at least. Once the soup was done, I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor, and this kombu definitely played a crucial role in achieving the final taste. In my opinion, it would have been nicer if the flavor is a bit stronger, more like ocean taste, but it is still very good.

great price, good quality

Tip: store in the freezer to keep it fresh for longer!

I use a 3" x 5" piece when I cook dried beans. It keeps the beans from producing gas in one's digestion. That's because beans contain a carbohydrate called oligosaccharide. Our bodies do not have an enzyme to digest oligosaccharide, so it ends up in the lower intestine. Our friendly bacteria break down the stuff but produce methane as a by-product of digestion. Farts! Kombu contains the necessary enzyme, alpha galactosidase. That's the stuff in Beano. Cook your beans with kombu for trouble-free digestion. Plus, the kombu does not affect the taste of your beans.

I thought this would be thinner. It's very thick and doesn't taste too good. I bought these for soup and they end up like shoe leather.