ShirakikuPremium Dried Gourmet Bonito Flakes - Smoked Japanese Bonito Fish Flakes - Pre-Cut Thinly slice packed with umami flavor to Make Traditional Japanese Dishes - Resealable Package - 16 Ounces

Delicious for dashi and a great price for a huge bag!!

Quality product for flavoring stocks, soups etc... The bag is resealable so you can store it for a while. Great value for the price, large quantity. Will buy again!

I originally looked into these flakes to make dashi broth, but quickly realized they make excellent kitty treats as well! Any product that has multiple uses is a win for me and these flakes are great. I underestimated how large the 1lb bag would be, but it will last quite some time and is resealable. The flakes arrived in great shape and there is little to no “dust” or unusable crumbles (there is no such thing as unusable crumbles if you have kitties). My cats are spoiled rotten and only like freeze-dried fish treats which can be expensive in tiny quantities. This is a wonderful and economical alternative. While the only ingredient is skipjack tuna, be mindful of the natural sodium in the flakes especially if feeding to cats. Also, be sure to store the bag in a cat-safe area/alternate container or they will try to chew through the bag like the greedy little furballs they are.

This is a huge bag of fish shavings, very thin sheets, some are really long and good for giving as cat treats also. I have three cats and they enjoy these tasty treats anytime they can get them. I do save them as their new treats rather than the packaged store treats.I purchased these flakes after researching ideas on getting my old boy to eat his renal food. My Cat is in early stages of kidney failure and just does not want to eat any of the prescription foods available. The cans are only fresh for about 2/3 days after opening so I make up two days worth at a time of this blend: roughly: 3 cans of prescription food, a good hand full of Shirakiku Bonito Flakes, 1/8th to 1/4th cups water. I put this in a Ninja Blender and make sure it's very well blended into a pudding consistency - the way he likes it. This makes two mornings and two evening feedings for my cat. If you want to try this, you have to go by the amount of food your cat needs to eat and how much flakes/water ratio will be enough to convince your kitty to eat it up. This product has been a gawd send in getting a renal needs cat to eat.I just noticed the packaging was different than what was advertised after posting my review. The advertised package is clear with white writing while the one I received has red writing. I'm not sure if there's any difference with these two items or if they are just a newer package maybe?

This has very weak flavor. I do not think it was smoked enough, fermented enough or anything else the bonito you are used to gets.What to do with it? Feed it to cats? No no no no. Not unless you hate cats. Cats eat fish and milk in cartoons, the same place they get hit with 10 ton weights and walk away. Do not use children's cartoons as your info source for feline care.With a limited number of exceptions (like the fishing cat) cats do not fish, they like small game. Fish is bad for them. Even if fresh water fish wasn't bad for them, this is salt water fish, cats are already famous for weak kidneys do you want to stress them further by feeding them salt? Of course then there is the smoking which is a carcinogen, do you want to feed you cat carcinogens?Finally as fisheries around the world keep collapsing due to over fishing, supplying an ever increasing demand, do you want to help wipe out fish species just to poison your cat?Just because you cat loves the flavor of something, doesn't make it good for you cat. Cats famously also love the taste of antifreeze. Do not feed you cat antifreeze just because I said you cat will like the taste!

Update to review: 8/21/20Originally only one cat would eat these, but now all four of them readily eat the flakes. I'm happy because these cost so much less that the others I was buying. I've increased the rating to 4 from 3 stars because the strong smokey smell kind of bothers me as I worry about the salt content._______________________________I bought this brand as the 16 oz. size and price is much better than the other bonito flakes I was buying. My cats eat it albeit only one actually seems to like it. The other two only eat a few flakes and leave the rest. As another reviewer mentioned, it might be due to the strong smoky smell. Whatever the reason is I'll stick to Kaneso Tokuyou Hanakatsuo Dried Bonito Flakes even though they cost much more but those flakes my cats gobble up.

I had no idea this bag would be so big. It’s restaurant sized!

Makes a nice smoky broth as the base for dishes. Wonderful topper to a cracker mixed with mayo and chili sauce.