What is Umami: Understanding Our fifth taste

Umami is the fifth primary taste after sweet, sour, salty and bitter. It may be the most important taste of all in making our food delicious. 

In his book What Dog Saw, Malcolm Gladwell eloquently describes as Umami taste "differs chicken soup from salt water." It is often described as "savory" or "meaty" but in reality Umami occurs in all foods that contain some naturally occurring amino acid. Indeed, the term Umami first invented by Japanese scientist Dr. Kikunae Ikeda to describe the taste of glutamate, the principal active ingredient which gives the ocean seaweed with its unique flavor.

Umami - the whole is greater than the sum ... 

Other foods were subsequently studied and shown to contain amino acids, producing Umami flavor, especially in protein-rich foods. Other acids, called nucleotides was also discovered that taste as Umami. The presence of nucleotides in combination with glutamate resulting in a synergistic flavor strength effect, which produces optimum Umami.

Umami is Everywhere 

Despite its presence in the delicious foods from around the world have Umami not win international recognition as the "official" fifth primary taste until the 1980s, when overwhelming evidence demanded so. Commonly used flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate allow Umami flavor to be added to any recipe, but in reality glutamate has a much longer natural history in traditional cooking. Umami occurs naturally in a wide variety of foods, including: 

    * Asian foods such as soy sauce 

    * Italian foods such as Parmesan cheese and tomatoes 

    * Shellfish and many other fish and shellfish 

    * Mushrooms and truffles 

    * Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and other vegetables 

    * Meats, fish and even - green tea! 

Umami Inside Me

The fifth taste has driven humanity culinary efforts from the back seat from time immemorial. The Wikipedia entry on Umami cites several references that describe Umami's biochemical response. Specialized receptors in human gastrointestinal tract initiate neurotransmitter activity such as serotonin, that have an abundance of features, including moderating humor. It shows that the human body was a way for Umami - and vice versa. 

Ways to bring back Umami

One of the most common natural methods to extract Umami is slow cooking. The Rose Cafe in Santa Barbara, California, for example, serves a homemade chicken soup that contains so much Umami it will knock your socks off. This is undoubtedly due to the simmering of foods high in Umami - chicken, carrots and other vegetables. 

Another way to achieve the maximum Umami is to combine foods with naturally occurring glutamate in them containing nucleotides. This synergistic effect is described in more detail by Umami Information Center, a large online resource of Umami recipes and facts, and inspiration for this article.