UMAMI!

[Zulu Romeo]

Salt, Sweet, Bitter, Sour.... and now, The Fifth Eleme-- I mean, Taste!

The taste of Umami, based on a Japanese word, is that sensation found in savoury foods (such as highly protein-rich foods and and especially tomato) rich in glutamate in particular, triggering a particularly deep and rich, "yummy" sensation when applied to the taste buds.

Now, I'm no Heston Blumenthal, but it is something that neurophysiologists have been aware of for quite some time now, and something I was taught about about 10 years ago in University. However, this week the specific taste is now available in supermarkets in a concentrated tube of the stuff marketed as.... Taste No. 5™:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...tter-and-now-its-the-fifth-taste-1893309.html

Since its discovery 102 years ago by a Japanese scientist, "umami" has been the object of fascination by chemists and avant-garde chefs determined to discover the secret of the so-called "fifth taste".


But now the esoteric flavour – described as the trigger for the sensation of deliciousness when detected by the brain alongside the primary tastes of sweet, salty, sour and bitter – is about to jump from the rarefied surroundings of Michelin-starred restaurants and university labs to the high street, with the arrival of umami in a tube.

Two British supermarket chains are to start stocking a paste of ingredients developed by a London restaurateur and food writer, which is rich in the naturally occurring chemicals that create the sense of umami, amid growing scientific evidence that the fifth taste plays a key role in stimulating the digestive system.
....

I also listened to a feature on this on one of the radio shows this week - apparently some say that it has a subjectively synergistic effect on our taste buds when combined with other tastes.

Personally, I don't generally like to think of umami when I taste something that's, well, tasty. But at least there's a name for it, I guess, if nothing else - although when hearing it, I can't help but think of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCCuOLqwZv8

 

[Jadzia]

Would this be the same flavour sensation as MSG imparts to food, but this new stuff is just derived from natural sources?

I wonder if other e-numbers in the "flavour enhancers" category have similar taste receptors, such as Inosinate?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number#E600.E2.80.93E699_.28flavour_enhancers.29

 

[sojourner]

<gets ready for the "Umami tastes like" jokes>

 

[Zulu Romeo]

^^^ It tastes like chicken. But then again,everything that's delicious in the world tastes like chicken.

Would this be the same flavour sensation as MSG imparts to food, but this new stuff is just derived from natural sources?

I wonder if other e-numbers in the "flavour enhancers" category have similar taste receptors, such as Inosinate?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number#E600.E2.80.93E699_.28flavour_enhancers.29

It seems the inosinate-based flavour enhancers actually make the umami sensation more intense when combined with the glutamates that activate the umami receptor in the taste buds. These intense sensations are probably a combination of the effect of the taste neurological pathways, as well as accessory synergy pathways (probably triggered by the inosinate chemoreceptors and other pathways) enhancing the original signal, which generally speaking prepares the GI tract for incoming food (increased salivation, stomach grumbling, etc.).

 

[CuttingEdge100]

What is the substance made out of if it's not like secret or something

 

[Zulu Romeo]

What is the substance made out of if it's not like secret or something

Glutamic acid, a.k.a. Glutamate.

As featured in a lot of Japanese dishes for over a century, as well as Parmesan cheese, mushrooms, etc.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

When I saw the title of this thread, it made me hunger for a bag of Doritos.

 

[Daedalus12]

What is the substance made out of if it's not like secret or something

Glutamic acid, a.k.a. Glutamate.

As featured in a lot of Japanese dishes for over a century, as well as Parmesan cheese, mushrooms, etc.

Ah so basically it's MSG..

 

[Jadzia]

Isn't MSG bad for us? I'm sure I've heard it listed as an additive to avoid due to it aggravating health problems, and possibly why a lot of manufacturers avoid using it.

 

[Timby]

The health risks associated with MSG are still very much up for debate ... even the FDA has backed off its stance from the mid-'90s, when it wanted manufacturers to have "contains glutamate" on packaging.

That said, while glutamate is a substitute for the umami flavor, umami is not MSG.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

This word sounds like something Al Jolsen would say after eating a habenero pepper.

 

[bryce]

Also soy sauce, miso, and Asian fish sauces (which smell like dirty sneakers but taste yummy)...all have this flavor.

I imagine some stinky cheeses do as well...

 

[Daedalus12]

The health risks associated with MSG are still very much up for debate ... even the FDA has backed off its stance from the mid-'90s, when it wanted manufacturers to have "contains glutamate" on packaging.

That said, while glutamate is a substitute for the umami flavor, umami is not MSG.

No it's not a substitute either.. The umami flavor is caused by the glutamate amino acid..

 

[Timby]

The health risks associated with MSG are still very much up for debate ... even the FDA has backed off its stance from the mid-'90s, when it wanted manufacturers to have "contains glutamate" on packaging.

That said, while glutamate is a substitute for the umami flavor, umami is not MSG.

No it's not a substitute either.. The umami flavor is caused by the glutamate amino acid..

Glutamic acid and sodium glutamate are two entirely different constructs.

 

[Daedalus12]

The health risks associated with MSG are still very much up for debate ... even the FDA has backed off its stance from the mid-'90s, when it wanted manufacturers to have "contains glutamate" on packaging.

That said, while glutamate is a substitute for the umami flavor, umami is not MSG.

No it's not a substitute either.. The umami flavor is caused by the glutamate amino acid..

Glutamic acid and sodium glutamate are two entirely different constructs.

Calling them entirely different construct is misleading.. The latter is simply a salt of the former. You take MSG and put it water and it becomes the anion glutamate.. Either way the glutamate portion is what is responsible for the taste of umami.

 

[Lindley]

Hmm. Aside from tomatoes, I don't really like most of the foods mentioned in this thread. Not sure if this stuff works on me....

 

[Jadzia]

Glutamic acid and sodium glutamate are two entirely different constructs.

Calling them entirely different construct is misleading.. The latter is simply a salt of the former. You take MSG and put it water and it becomes the anion glutamate.. Either way the glutamate portion is what is responsible for the taste of umami.

From the point of view of a nutrition conscious chef, I suppose the sodium content of MSG would be the focal issue beyond mere flavour similarities.

I agree with Daedalus. But to introduce a related issue, the sodium cation may add it's own component to the flavour of MSG.

Consider: Is the taste of table salt from the sodium or the chloride ions? Compare it with the tastes of potassium chloride, and with sodium sulphate. They all taste different, and while saltiness tends to be attributed to chloride, the taste of salt is more correctly a combination of the tongue detecting both the sodium and chloride ions.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

But to introduce a related issue, the sodium cation may add it's own component to the flavour of MSG.

Consider: Is the taste of table salt from the sodium or the chloride ions? Compare it with the tastes of potassium chloride, and with sodium sulphate. They all taste different, and while saltiness tends to be attributed to chloride, the taste of salt is more correctly a combination of the tongue detecting both the sodium and chloride ions.

While all sensations are subjective at the end of the day, there are some generally agreed notions of what individual tastes are, confirmed via neurophysiological studies on chemoreceptors, neurotransmitter release and activity in the brain, subjective reporting etc. As well as the basic chemoreceptor to nerve to taste centre pathways, there are also interactions higher up with the cerebral cortex, with other special senses such as sound and smell and sight, and the limbic system (the brain's "primitive" system of high emotions such as sexual desire, fear, sleep, memory, and instinctive behaviour) which all lead to different interpretations of taste. Dysgeusia, a condition whereby taste is disordered, is often as a result of neurological damage, be it generalised pathology such as demyelination disease and vitamin deficiencies and certain neurotoxic medications, or can be simply due to damage to the specific taste pathway.

To answer your question, the basic taste of salt is initiated by the interaction of cations, specifically the humble sodium ion, on the salt taste receptors in the tongue. Other salts have a subtly different taste, due to the ions interacting with the chemoreceptors in a less compatible way, but still interpreted by the higher brain centres as a salty-like taste but not quite salty. I suppose you could say that the higher centres of the brain help us interpret these in a certain (and it seems, consistent) way.