diff --git a/packages/verified-fetch/package.json b/packages/verified-fetch/package.json
index c6ac2771..81f4067f 100644
--- a/packages/verified-fetch/package.json
+++ b/packages/verified-fetch/package.json
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
     "@sgtpooki/file-type": "^1.0.1",
     "@types/sinon": "^17.0.3",
     "aegir": "^42.2.5",
-    "blockstore-core": "^4.4.0",
+    "blockstore-core": "^4.4.1",
     "browser-readablestream-to-it": "^2.0.5",
     "datastore-core": "^9.2.9",
     "helia": "^4.1.0",
diff --git a/packages/verified-fetch/src/verified-fetch.ts b/packages/verified-fetch/src/verified-fetch.ts
index 598eff0e..26dc33aa 100644
--- a/packages/verified-fetch/src/verified-fetch.ts
+++ b/packages/verified-fetch/src/verified-fetch.ts
@@ -423,18 +423,13 @@ export class VerifiedFetch {
     // if the user has specified an `Accept` header that corresponds to a raw
     // type, honour that header, so for example they don't request
     // `application/vnd.ipld.raw` but get `application/octet-stream`
-    const overriddenContentType = getOverridenRawContentType({ headers: options?.headers, accept })
-    if (overriddenContentType != null) {
-      response.headers.set('content-type', overriddenContentType)
-    } else {
-      await this.setContentType(result, path, response)
-    }
+    await this.setContentType(result, path, response, getOverridenRawContentType({ headers: options?.headers, accept }))
 
     return response
   }
 
-  private async setContentType (bytes: Uint8Array, path: string, response: Response): Promise<void> {
-    let contentType = 'application/octet-stream'
+  private async setContentType (bytes: Uint8Array, path: string, response: Response, defaultContentType = 'application/octet-stream'): Promise<void> {
+    let contentType: string | undefined
 
     if (this.contentTypeParser != null) {
       try {
@@ -455,8 +450,8 @@ export class VerifiedFetch {
         this.log.error('error parsing content type', err)
       }
     }
-    this.log.trace('setting content type to "%s"', contentType)
-    response.headers.set('content-type', contentType)
+    this.log.trace('setting content type to "%s"', contentType ?? defaultContentType)
+    response.headers.set('content-type', contentType ?? defaultContentType)
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/packages/verified-fetch/test/content-type-parser.spec.ts b/packages/verified-fetch/test/content-type-parser.spec.ts
index b614529b..54deb03c 100644
--- a/packages/verified-fetch/test/content-type-parser.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/verified-fetch/test/content-type-parser.spec.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
-import { createHeliaHTTP } from '@helia/http'
 import { unixfs } from '@helia/unixfs'
 import { stop } from '@libp2p/interface'
 import { fileTypeFromBuffer } from '@sgtpooki/file-type'
 import { expect } from 'aegir/chai'
 import { filetypemime } from 'magic-bytes.js'
+import { CID } from 'multiformats/cid'
 import Sinon from 'sinon'
 import { fromString as uint8ArrayFromString } from 'uint8arrays/from-string'
 import { createVerifiedFetch } from '../src/index.js'
 import { VerifiedFetch } from '../src/verified-fetch.js'
+import { createHelia } from './fixtures/create-offline-helia.js'
 import type { Helia } from '@helia/interface'
-import type { CID } from 'multiformats/cid'
 
 describe('content-type-parser', () => {
   let helia: Helia
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ describe('content-type-parser', () => {
   let verifiedFetch: VerifiedFetch
 
   beforeEach(async () => {
-    helia = await createHeliaHTTP()
+    helia = await createHelia()
     const fs = unixfs(helia)
     cid = await fs.addByteStream((async function * () {
       yield uint8ArrayFromString('H4sICIlTHVIACw', 'base64')
@@ -132,4 +132,16 @@ describe('content-type-parser', () => {
     const resp = await verifiedFetch.fetch(cid)
     expect(resp.headers.get('content-type')).to.equal('application/gzip')
   })
+
+  it('can properly set content type for identity CIDs', async () => {
+    verifiedFetch = new VerifiedFetch({
+      helia
+    }, {
+      contentTypeParser: async (data) => {
+        return 'text/plain'
+      }
+    })
+    const resp = await verifiedFetch.fetch(CID.parse('bafkqablimvwgy3y'))
+    expect(resp.headers.get('content-type')).to.equal('text/plain')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/packages/verified-fetch/test/fixtures/create-offline-helia.ts b/packages/verified-fetch/test/fixtures/create-offline-helia.ts
index 389662ed..8b7e3d1d 100644
--- a/packages/verified-fetch/test/fixtures/create-offline-helia.ts
+++ b/packages/verified-fetch/test/fixtures/create-offline-helia.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 import { Helia as HeliaClass } from '@helia/utils'
 import { MemoryBlockstore } from 'blockstore-core'
+import { IdentityBlockstore } from 'blockstore-core/identity'
 import { MemoryDatastore } from 'datastore-core'
 import type { HeliaHTTPInit } from '@helia/http'
 import type { Helia } from '@helia/interface'
 
 export async function createHelia (init: Partial<HeliaHTTPInit> = {}): Promise<Helia> {
   const datastore = new MemoryDatastore()
-  const blockstore = new MemoryBlockstore()
+  const blockstore = new IdentityBlockstore(new MemoryBlockstore())
 
   const helia = new HeliaClass({
     datastore,