Japanese and Oriental ingredients - Kombu & Wakame - dried seaweeds

Kombu

Kombu is a kind of seaweed. Yes Japanese uses many different kind of seaweeds but Kombu (or also called Kobu) is the most popular part. Generally used for making Dashi (stock).
This is a thick part of large long leaf seaweeds, dried perfectly and commonly sold as few lines a pack.
It is hard when you get from a pack, need to use seasor to cut them in pieces.
Has very gentle umami (tastiness) and most basic ingredients and must have thing for making Japanese soups.
I have to say it is not cheep. But if you buy a pack, it lasts years. Small piece like a your thumb nail can be good enough to cook a large pot of tasty miso soup.

<How to store>
It needs to be kept dry, air tight and kept out from sun light; I usually cut them in small pieces like 1cm square then keep them in a bottle.
It may start to have white dust on the surface of dried leafs - that's usually not a problem.
It last really few years as long as you are keeping air tight, but will reduce the original taste. I would recommend to use them up in 2 years.

<How to use>
For stock: Cut it in to a small piece then place it in a cold water in a pot you want to make soup or stock. For general use e.g. miso soup, leave it for few minutes then start heating up the pot, take the Kombu just before the water start to boil. For long cooking meal like Nabe, leave it in soup. If you really want to have a high standard stock e.g. for osumashi (stock clear soup), leave it for 10-15 minutes then take the piece out before start heating up the water.
For other use: leave the leaf in cold water over 30min until it gets enough soft. Use it for wrapping veges, meats, fish to cook or to marinate.

Wakame

This is the another popular kind of dried seaweed. Commonly used as a Sunomono (marinated) salad and for a miso soup. This is a very thin and fluffy part of seaweeds, easy to use. You can eat it with or without cooking.

<How to store>
Same as Kombu.

<How to use>
Place them in a small cup then pour over cold water - the dried wakame gets about 3-5 times more than when it is dried so make sure you pour in enough water to cover when it gets raw. if the things start to grow more than the water, simply add more water. Leave it for about 10 min (or the package you bought instructs). Drain on strainer, squeeze out extra water easily then serve it as a part of salad or for soup.