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Concept
Kombu
Summary
Konbu (from konbu or kombu) is edible kelp mostly from the family Laminariaceae and is widely eaten in East Asia. It may also be referred to as dasima (다시마) or haidai ().
Kelp features in the diets of many civilizations, including Chinese and Icelandic; however, the largest consumers of kelp are the Japanese, who have incorporated kelp and seaweed into their diets for over 1,500 years.
There are about eighteen edible species in Laminariaceae and most of them, but not all, are called kombu. Confusingly, species of Laminariaceae have multiple names in biology and in fisheries science. In the following list, fisheries science synonyms are in parentheses, and Japanese names follow them.
Saccharina japonica (Laminaria japonica), ja
Saccharina japonica var. religiosa (Laminaria religiosa), ja
Saccharina japonica var. diabolica (Laminaria diabolica), ja l
Saccharina japonica var. ochotensis (Laminaria ochotensis), ja – commonly used for soup stocks
Saccharina latissima (Laminaria saccharina), Karafuto-kombu – contains mannitol and is considered sweeter
Saccharina angustata (Laminaria angustata), ja – commonly used in the making of dashi
Saccharina longissima (Laminaria longissima), ja
Saccharina coriacea (Laminaria coriacea), ja
Saccharina sculpera (Kjellmaniella sculpera), ja
Saccharina longipedalis (Laminaria longipedalis), Enaga-kombu
Saccharina gyrata (Kjellmaniella gyrata), ja
Saccharina cichorioides (Laminaria cichorioides), Chijimi-kombu
Arthrothamnus bifidus, ja
Kombu is a loanword from Japanese.
In Old Japanese, edible seaweed was generically called "me" (cf. wakame, arame) and kanji such as "軍布", 海藻 or "和布" were applied to transcribe the word. Especially, kombu was called hirome (from hiroi, wide) or ebisume (from ebisu). Sometime later the names konfu and kofu appeared respectively in two editions of Iroha Jiruishō in 12th–13th century.
Various theories have been claimed for the origin of the name kombu, with the following two predominant today.
One is that it originated from the on'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of the Chinese name 昆布 (kūnbù).
Official source
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