Kombu: The Mother of Umami

Japanese kombu (Saccharina japonica) contains the largest amount of free glutamate known of any foodstuff. When steeped in water for preparing dashi, kombu releases some of its glutamate, leading to basal umami. Nori from purple laver (Porphyra yezoensis), used for wrapping sushi in maki-zushi rolls, also contains large amounts of free glutamate, whereas wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) contains very little and is used in soups more for texture than taste.

In principle, there is no reason why other kinds of seaweed, out of the existing 10,000 different species around the world, could not rival or match kombu in producing a good dashi. With this in mind, chefs and scientists in Denmark set out to search for seaweeds, native to the pristine and cold Nordic waters, which could contribute glutamate and hence umami to a Nordic dashi.