Dee wrote on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:50:00 -0400:

DD> About a lb. of bonito flakes which I bought Feb 06 and
DD> vacuumed in jars.

DD> About 10 oz. of sheets of kombu – perhaps 10 years +/- old?
DD> They have been in heavy zip-lock bags.

DD> Wakame – a large (seems large – 85 g) opened package with a
DD> tie around the top, but doesn’t look too secure – perhaps 5
DD> years old

DD> Wakame – a large (seems large – 150 g) opened package with
DD> a tie around the top, but looks even less secure than the
DD> 85g package. Perhaps 3-5 years old.

DD> Would you keep any of this? I don’t make dashi often, as
DD> you can see. I love wakame and carrots, but don’t seem to
DD> want to make it.

I have never made Hon Dashi from scratch but I "eat" miso soup
quite often and the dried concentrate from Ajinomotu seems to
keep in the regular refigerator until I have used it up. Their
other dried stocks, for example Dashi Chuka, seem to keep
equally well.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not