Umami, popularly referred to as
savoriness, is one of the five generally recognized
[who?] basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human and animal
tongue.
Umami (旨味?) is a
loanword from
Japanese meaning roughly "tasty", although "
brothy", "
meaty", or "savory" have been proposed as alternative translations.
[1][2] In as much as it describes the flavor common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and
mushrooms, umami is similar to
Brillat-Savarin's concept of
osmazome, an early attempt to describe the main flavoring component of meat as extracted in the process of making
stock.
The umami taste is due to the detection of the carboxylate anion of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring amino acid common in meats, cheese, broth, stock, and other protein-heavy foods. Salts of the glutamic acid, known as glutamates, easily ionize to give the same carboxylate form therefore the same taste. For this reason they are used as flavor enhancers. The most commonly used of these is monosodium glutamate (MSG). While the umami taste is due to glutamates, 5'-ribonucleotides such as guanosine monophosphate (GMP) and inosine monophosphate (IMP) greatly enhance its perceived intensity. Since these ribonucleotides are also acids, their salts are sometimes added together with glutamates to obtain a synergistic flavor enhancement effect.[1][3]
Umami as a separate taste was first identified in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University while researching the strong flavor in seaweed broth.[2] Ikeda isolated monosodium glutamate (MSG) as the chemical responsible and, with the help of the Ajinomoto company, began commercial distribution of MSG products.
Natural glutamate has a long history in cooking it is naturally found in East and Southeast Asian foods such as soy sauce and fish sauce, and in Italian foods like parmesan cheese and anchovies. It is prevalent in seafood such as lobster, crabs, and shrimp.[4]
