I wanted to show you how ideal KATSUO-BUSHI (Bonito Flakes) and KONBU kelp look like, so you can go shopping in your local asian market with confidence.
KATSU BUSHI bonito flakes
The bonito flakes are supposed to be in big shavings like this and smell smoky. (This shape of big shavings is called HANA-KATSUO by the way, the vocabulary can be useful for looking it up online)
If you look at the package, there should only be complete shavings and not lots of crumbs and dust. Usually Bonito flakes are packaged in inflated bags similar to potato chips so they don’t get squished.
KONBU kelp
The Konbu kelp should be dark green (not black) in color and have white crystals on the outside. Those crystals are natural glutamic acid and a big part of making a great Umami flavour, so please don’t wash them off.
If you take a whiff of the Konbu it should smell like the sea and not like an dusty old attic – that’s a sign of them being stored to long.
There are different types of Kelp: RISHIRI KONBU, MA-KONBU and RAUSU KONBU. Depending on the restaurant different Konbu types get used, so it is down to individual preference. Personally I would recommend RISHIRI Konbu together with Bonito Flakes and MA-Konbu together with Tuna Flakes (delicious, but probably hard to source abroad). But any combination is okay, so work with whatever you can source where you live :)
I hope you have fun making delicous Dashi!
Japanese Cuisine 
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