Bonito Flakes (Katsuobushi flakes)
Katsuobushi (Japanese: 鰹節) is dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis). It is also known as bonito flakes when young bonito is used as a cheaper substitute for skipjack tuna. Katsuobushi or similarly prepared fish is also known as okaka (おかか).
Traditionally, chunks of katsuobushi were shaved as needed with an instrument similar to a wood plane called a katsuobushi kezuriki.
Today katsuobushi is typically sold in bags of small pink-brown shavings, which vary by thickness: smaller, thinner shavings, called hanakatsuo (花鰹), are used as a flavoring and topping for many Japanese dishes, such as okonomiyaki, while the larger thicker, called kezurikatsuo (削り鰹), are favored for making the widely used dashi stock.Shaved Katsuobushi and dried kelp – kombu – are the main ingredients of dashi, a broth that forms the basis of many soups (such as miso) and sauces (e.g., soba no tsukejiru) in Japanese cuisine.
(From Wikipedia)
Alo Japan.