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NeKKo
  • Dashi ingredient
  • 羅臼昆布

Rausu-kombu

The king of kombu: the most power, the least clarity.

Flavor profile

Umamimighty umami 95%
Oceanocean 70%
Sweetnesssweetness 60%
Mineralmineral 45%

The strengths are editorial judgments on a scale within the family, not measurements. They can be compared across the dashi ingredients varieties, not directly against another family.

Origin Rausu on the southern side of the Shiretoko Peninsula

Rausu is harvested along a short stretch of coast on the southern side of the Shiretoko Peninsula and is called the king of kombu. It gives the most powerful and most fragrant broth of all the varieties, but also the cloudiest and most colored, because the leaf's soft surface gives up more than the firmer northern varieties do. That makes it the wrong choice for a clear soup and the right choice when the kombu has to carry the broth alone.

Sensory analysis

Pyramid and character

Aroma

from the bag

  • intense kelp
  • ocean
  • faintly sweet steam

Broth

in the spoon

  • mighty umami
  • sweetness
  • full body

Finish

what lingers

  • very long
  • hearty
  • round
UMAMISALINITYSWEETNESSSMOKEBODYCLARITY

Character 0-100 per axis, set relative to the other entries in the same family. An editorial judgment of a typical serving, not measurements.

Background

Facts

Origin
Rausu on the southern side of the Shiretoko Peninsula, a small area in eastern Hokkaido
Kinship
the same species as the other kombu varieties (Saccharina japonica); the name is the harvest area
Broth
powerful flavor and strong aroma, but cloudy and yellowing; the surface is soft and bleeds color into the water
Use
broth where the kombu stands alone, noodle soups and hot pots; popular in the Kanto region
Price
considered the most expensive of the four main varieties

In the pot

Broth

Soaking
30 minutes to overnight in cold water
Temperature
heat toward the boiling point and lift the leaf out before the water boils
Note
keep the soak shorter than for a rishiri if the broth is to stay clear; with rausu you buy power and pay in clarity

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