Umami

During our visit to North Carolina, Nicole taught us about umami. I had no idea that there is now considered to be a fifth primary taste sensation, in addition to the familiar ones of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. This is umami (sometimes spelled umame.) This taste sensation is sometimes described as “savory” and is found particularly in soy sauce, fish sauce, walnuts, mushrooms, and meats.

This fifth taste sensation was first studied nearly 100 years ago by the Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda who isolated the flavor from kombu seaweed. What he isolated turned out to be the amino acid glutamate, and this lead him to develop the seasoning agent monosodium glutamate. It wasn’t until the 1980s before the discovery of umami was generally accepted, and in the year 2000 scientists identified umami receptors on the tongue that responded specifically to glutamate.

So that’s why I enjoyed my lunchtime mushroom quiche today!