There are so many different variation from the original spelling in Japanese, but I believe the best one is “Konbucha”, directly translated from the Japanese word 昆布茶.
It is not to be confused with Kombucha, which is a fermented tea drink.
Definition from Wikipedia: Kombucha is the Western name for sweetened tea or tisane that has been fermented by a macroscopic solid mass of microorganisms called a “kombucha colony,” usually consisting principally of Acetobacter-species and yeast cultures.
Japanese people drink that as a kind of tea, but personally I don’t really think it is a tea or a drink at all. Sounds pretty eerie to me
Back to Konbucha powder, I used Konbucha powder (dried seaweed powder) as a kind of herb, which usually I add when I was cooking a clear broth and sometimes you can add in konbucha powder when you are making seafood omelet. There are a few recipes that I have seen recently that made good use of Konbucha as a key ingredient. I think it brings out the savoriness out of the food, and is an alternative form of MSG (umami). One of the recipe that I can share.
Recipe
Crab Omelet with Konbucha (serves 4)
Ingredient:
1 can of crab meat (~60g)
grounded chicken meat(~120g)
Condiment A :
- cornstarch 2 teaspoon
- salt 1/4 teaspoon
Condiment B:
- sugar 2 teaspoon
- light soy sauce
6 Eggs
Soy Milk (80 ml)
Sauce:
- Konbucha 2 teaspoon
- light soy sauce
- cornstarch 2 teaspoon
- water 1 1/2 cup
Step 1:Mix crab meat, chicken meat and Condiment A in a bowl.
Step 2:Beat eggs and mix soy milk with Condiment B together, then mix all the food from Step 1, mix well.
Step 3:Heat a pan and add oil afterwards, add 1/4 of the mixture into the pan, flip after seeing the egg batter transform into semi-transparent state. Repeat the process to make 4 omeletes.
Step 4:After finishing, put the sauce to a boil in the pan and add in some black pepper when needed. Pour sauce over the completed crab omelete.
Step 5: Serve with rice/pasta.
Above is of the brand that I use, and it seem to be pretty prominent in Japense shop. This version of it doesn’t add the plum flavor, and I like it because it is more managable.
nice recipe idea i dont see a lot of people trying konbucha in a dish!
however id like to point out something there:
konbucha and kombucha are two different things. the one you used is called Konbucha and is a powder made of a type of Kelp (which is called Konbu/kombu in Japan and also used in soups).
it has glutamic acid and seasalt
on its so its naturally salted.
Kombucha is not japanese origin but they gave it its name and its created from yeast and fermenting process not from kombu/konbu despite its name.
http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha.shtml
i know its confusing konbucha powder isnt that common outside of japan.
Yes that’s right. Essentially it is kelp powder that is in Konbucha
The one you have in your picture are call
root konbucha (根こんぶ茶), are made from the root of konbu(昆布根), it sold for $5.25/55gram in power form.
The konbucha (昆布茶), which are made from konbu’s kelp (昆布) itself, are sold for $5.77/140gram in its power from.
Also the nutrution of konbu root are better than the kelp.
nice! When I go to the Nijiya Market I think they only carry the root konbucha by some reason and I couldn’t really find the kobucha. The packaging of the two looks very similiar by the way. I’ll add both pictures I guess. Also I have though of buying the ume flavoured konbucha powder- don’t really know what to do with it.
If you want to lower blood cholesterol, decrese constipation, and recover from exhaustion then drink Ume Konbucha (梅こんぶ茶)
On the other hand if you want to prevent High blood pressure, neuralgia, diabetes mellitus, stomach ulcers. Then you should go with Konbucha (昆布茶). It is also believe that it is effective to reduce the size of some tumors.
Hi, i just thought i’d post and let you know your website looks a bit odd on the Devious browser. Anyhow keep up the good work.