Umami: Enhances Taste
Caution, Umami Contains MSG
Umami (pronounced oo-MAH-mee) when "discovered" by Chef Auguste Escoffier, didn't taste sweet, sour, salty or bitter. Chef Escoffier, the inventor of veal stock, was known as the chef in Paris, in the late 1800's.
Japanese have also cooked with umami for decades, but didn't make its U.S. debut until 1917. In Japanese, umami means delicious or yummy.
About umami, science writer, Jonah Lehrer, of NPR/WNYC Radio Lab says, "This was an epiphany. This was the best food you ever tasted in your life."
Umami: Ingredients Build on Each Other
In the same manner as sugar and salt stimulate certain taste receptors on the tongue, certain natural foods contain protein pieces that stimulate our umami receptors. Umami stimulators are present in: ripe tomatoes, mushrooms, aged cheeses, spinach and eggs, to name a few.
When two umami compounds, such as mushrooms and aged cheese, are combined eighttimes the flavor is produced than with a single umami compound. So that, a pasta dish made with mushrooms and Parmesan, would have an enormous amount of tastiness compared to the same dish using only one umami ingredient.
Umami: Opposites Attract
According to food scientist, Harold McGee, our taste receptors get "bored" with repeated exposure and over time, our response to taste will lessen.
Eating opposite foods together - sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami - serves to stimulate the taste buds. For example, serve meat with a sweet-sour sauce. Slice sweet apples and eat with aged cheese. Opposites will make food taste better.
Umami: What is it?
Umami, considered the fifth primary taste, occurs naturally in foods as glutamate. In 1908, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda successfully isolated the umami taste from seaweed in the sodium salt form, called monosodium glutamate.
Although further studies defined umami as a two-part taste sensation, made up of amino acids and nucleotides monosodium glutamate or MSG is used globally as a taste enhancer.
Umami: Consume MSG with Caution
If you are not an experienced consumer of MSG, proceed with caution. Ask yourself the following:
• Do I get a headache after drinking red wine?
• Have I ever been sick after eating at an Asian restaurant?
• Have my lips swollen and my face broken out with red blotches after eating at a commercial salad bar?
If you answered yes to these questions, I must urge to consume MSG with caution, as you are likely allergic.
If you are highly allergic to MSG, you may experience an anaphylactic reaction, necessitating a trip to the Emergency Room. This is an experience I do not care to repeat.
Ten minutes after eating at a salad bar, in a national hotel chain, my lips turned beet red, my face broke out with red blotches, and so I understand, had the final step occurred, my tongue would have swollen. Without emergency care, I could have stopped breathing.
Therefore, it is always prudent to consult with the restaurant manager if you suspect use of MSG. While my food may not be of enhanced taste, I choose life!
Source References: Article in "Fine Cooking" - by Shirley O. Corriher
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyID=15819485
http://www.mstinfo.com/about-taste-umami.asp?bhcd2=1264515295
Published by Bonnie Doss-Knight
Advocate of pure & simple living. Author of "Chocolate Days & Shadows", "The Book, a Primer for Seekers of Higher Consciousness" and "Beyond Blue". Mission to bridge gap between 3-D material world & highest... View profile
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- Umami is almost tasteless until added to food.
- Umami is the fifth primary taste.
- Be aware umami contains monosodium glutamate (MSG) and you may be allergic.
11 Comments
Post a CommentYes, I once wrote of this. Another term for Umami is Savory. I like that term better, because the other isn't a word, and sounds like Your Mama. Big laugh. I actually like MSG. One of my favorite treats is chicken wings Chinese-style.
Yikes- you better be very careful when you go out to eat. !
5 is often the new/extra number. For the Greeks, the 5th element was called the Quintessence... meaning the 5th element that combined and usefully incorporated the other four (earth, air, fire and water.) Perhaps the number 5 has even greater meaning. Like 3s in our culture... Perhaps?
Fascinating article, cheers :)
Interesting article, thanks for your comment. A pleasure to read your work.
Very interesting. :)
wow I never heard of this but thank you so much for posting it.
I had never heard of this either, fascinating. I know if you put a slice of cheddar on a slice of tomato you get a far greater taste. I had no idea why though.
Very interesting! I also had never heard of this...
interesting, never heard of it