Fishy ice cream? Katsuobushi company Ninben subtly blends bonito into ice cream trio

In coordination with the SAKURA FES NIHONBASHI 2022 event now being held in Tokyo's Nihonbashi neighborhood until April 10, katsuobushi company Ninben Co Ltd has collaborated with 青果ミコト屋 "Seika Micotoya," a greengrocer dedicated to the realization of sustainable agriculture, as well as the creative team Konel to jointly develop a new ice cream series featuring bonito and dashi.

The ice cream series is also being produced as part of the つなぎふと Tsunagifuto project launched during the novel coronavirus pandemic as a way of connecting consumers with high-quality food gifts from Nihonbashi.

Odashi no Omekashi ice cream

おだしのおめかし odashi no omekashi, which literally means "dressed up dashi," comes in three different flavors, each one subtly featuring dashi and its primary ingredient, katsuobushi. For those who don't know, katsuobushi is simmered, smoked, and fermented skipjack tuna, otherwise known as bonito, the shavings of which are used to make dashi, a soup stock essential in the preparation of many Japanese dishes.

Here are the three flavors in the Odashi no Omekashi lineup:

Tsuyu no Moto caramel and dashigara cookies

This is a richly flavored marbled ice cream combining caramel made from Ninben's つゆの素 特撰 Tsuyu no Moto Tokusen premium triple concentrated soup base and coarse sugar from Kikaijima Island in the Amami archipelago, prized for its salty-sweet brown sugar-like flavor, and cookies made from rice flour and katsuobushi grounds leftover from brewing dashi.

Dashi, sudachi and bonito ginger

A squeeze of sudachi citrus goes wonderfully on bonito sashimi, just as freshly grated ginger is perfect on bonito tataki (seared bonito). This ice cream pays homage to these favorite flavor combinations, blending dashi, sudachi, and ginger to create a rich umami profile and extending the flavor of golden dashi made with Ninben's katsuobushi.

Dashimaki Tamago

One way of appreciating dashi is combining it with eggs to make an omelet called だし巻き卵 dashimaki tamago. This ice cream reproduces the gentle and satisfying taste of this dish, blending eggs from free-range chickens fed on homemade fermented feed, then steamed to perfection and flavored with Ninben's 白だし特撰 Premium Shirodashi, a light-colored concentrated soup stock.

Price for set of three: 1,950 yen (tax included).

The unique ice cream flavors will be sold at the SAKURA FES NIHONBASHI 2022 (COREDO Muromachi Terrace Roofed Outdoor Plaza) on the weekend of March 26 and 27, as well as at MICOTOYA HOUSE (7-8 Umegaoka, Aoba-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Pref. 227-0052) until April 10.

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