The Mucho Guide to Umami
These days, you’ll see buzzword umami popping up everywhere from your local Sainsbury’s to fast food joints. Umami paste? Umami seasoning? Umami burger? Confused? So were we. And if you’re feeling embarrassed to ask, “What the heck is umami?” You’ve come to the right place. We’ll get you clued in with a brief history of umami, how to identify it and bust some popular myths along the way.
History
Japan 1907, a certain Professor Ikeda discovered a 5th taste, you guessed it — umami! He believed our taste buds ran deeper than the four we were taught in school namely — sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Umami can be directly translated as ‘pleasant savoury taste’. One night, when having dashi broth, he detected a taste he felt couldn’t quite be boxed into the aforementioned, standard 4 flavours, and that was when his eureka moment materialised. Subsequently, he created the company Ajinomoto (which literally translates to ‘essence of taste’) after his discovery and patented the commercial production of MSG (monosodium glutamate; more on that in a bit).
Today, over a century on, Ajinomoto is a household brand in most parts of Asia, and one that is almost synonymous with soy sauce and MSG.
Identifying Umami
The main components of umami are glutamate, inosinate and guanylate. Fish, tomatoes, cheese, mushroom are common foods that can be classified as umami. It is naturally occurring the highest in Marmite, followed by parmesan (so the next time you instinctively reach for the cheese grater, you know why!)
Myths
Are umami and MSG (monosodium glutamate) the same thing? Not quite. MSG is a synthetic reproduction of natural glutamate that aims to mimic the flavour of natural umami and enhance flavours artificially. The synthetic nature of MSG has led to its bad rep over the years. It has been blamed as the cause for a wide host of physical ailments, from migraines and hair loss to obesity and cancer. That said, don’t be afraid to get your umami kick from food items that the compound occurs naturally in. A general rule of thumb would be to steer clear away from processed foods and be conscious when checking labels.
Feeling Peckish?
With all this talk of umami, we won’t blame you if you’re starting to feel just a little peckish. How about ending off your Intro 101 into umami with some, hm, delicious umami? Mucho has just the recipes to get you started on your umami discovery journey! Flexitarian (Umami Ginger Chicken) and vegetarian (Sweet chilli umami tofu) options at your disposal.
