29 Sep What is umami and in which foods can we recognize it?
Posted at 17:48h in Sin categoría
We have always been familiar with this fifth taste, discovered in Japan and known for its pleasant flavor, but in the West we have only recognized it as such for just over 20 years. We have been exposed to it since infancy, through breast milk, and later by tasting cured ham, asparagus, anchovies, green tea, or enjoying a good broth. But what is umami? In Japanese, umami (うま味) means “savory” and it is considered the fifth basic taste. In an interview with 324.cat, we spoke with the president of the Science and Cooking World Congress Foundation, Pere Castells, and with chef and owner of the restaurant Les Cols, Fina Puigdevall.
Pere Castells states that “it is difficult to explain”:
“It is a basic taste because it has been scientifically demonstrated, and there is nothing to argue. And people like it. It’s a global flavor, tasty like a broth.”
Fina Puigdevall explains that umami “is a flavor enhancer strongly associated with Japanese culture”:
“It is concentrated, powerful, strong, it gives flavor, rounds things out. It clearly enhances. It boosts.”
The Japanese have long integrated umami into their cuisine, but in the West it has only been acknowledged for just over 20 years, thanks in part to “globalization,” according to Castells.
Puigdevall sees this as positive:
“Now people know that in a well-prepared escudella or in a good sofrito you can find umami. And it is the basis of our cuisine. It is about giving culture and knowledge, knowing that there is a synonym and that we also have an equivalent in our gastronomy.”
The discovery of the fifth taste
In 1907, Japanese chemist and professor at the Imperial University of Tokyo Kikunae Ikeda identified umami for the first time, from a broth —a dashi— prepared by his wife with a single ingredient: kombu seaweed. When tasting it, he realized that this flavor was also present in tomatoes, asparagus, meat, and cheese he had eaten in Germany while studying.
From then on, he began to study the compounds in seaweed, convinced that this taste was different from sweet, salty, sour, or bitter, and he wanted to prove that it was indeed a fifth basic taste.
He succeeded in extracting umami from seaweed and discovered that glutamic acid —a type of amino acid— was the key. Experiment after experiment, he managed to isolate crystals that conveyed this flavor and developed a method to produce monosodium glutamate (MSG), pure umami, which he patented in July 1908.
Since then, the Japanese multinational Ajinomoto has marketed the product, which today can be found in supermarkets.
Where do we perceive umami and how do we feel it?
When we eat a product rich in umami, explains Pere Castells, we perceive this taste across the whole tongue:
“Everywhere, because it is a global flavor, very pleasant and difficult to pinpoint in one specific place. That’s why we could say we feel it in the center of the tongue.”
Umami is a persistent flavor “that makes us salivate, like all basic tastes.”
But it is not glutamate itself that determines umami, according to Castells:
“It is the perception we have of that flavor. For example, when we put an anchovy in our mouth, the taste buds detect molecules that trigger the sensation of umami, we salivate to perceive it better, and the brain, which receives the signal, identifies the taste also through our stored memories.”
And no, umami cannot be smelled:
“Because tastes theoretically have no smell; they lack molecules that evaporate and produce aroma.”
Recognizing umami at home
Some foods rich in umami are:
Kombu seaweed
Cured ham
Broth
Sofrito with olive oil
Well-caramelized onion
Mushrooms
Parmesan cheese
Tomato
Anchovies
Bonito
Fish