Kombu or konbu, also called dashima (dasima) or haidai,'s edible kelp from the family Laminariaceae widely eaten in East Asia. Over 90 percent of Japanese kombu's cultivated, and most's harvested, in Hokkaidō. It's cultivated as far south as the Seto Inland Sea. Most kombu's derived from the species Saccharina japonica (Laminaria japonica), extensively cultivated on ropes in the seas of China, Japan, and Korea. History The earliest written record of kombu appeared in Shoku Nihongi in 797… (More on Kombu)