As 2005 Emerges as the Year of the Asian Cuisine; Umami Emerges as the “Fifth Taste” (2/3)

Jacqueline B. Marcus, MS, RD, LD, CNS, FADA, Food and Nutrition Consultant in Northfield, IL and an international speaker on umami, notes that while Asian cuisine is based on traditional umami-rich ingredients for deliciousness, American/European cuisine has few traditional umami ingredients, but rather favors fat for richness and fullness. Marcus refers to Mark Miller, chef/ owner of the Coyote Café, Sante Fe, NM and Red Sage, Washington, DC who has said, “Westerners have a lineal palate, set up on sweet and salty taste with few counterpoints and harmonies. In Asian cuisine, however, you use all tastes at the same time, You’re eating circularly. You must rain your mind to go after flavor characteristics and look for flavors in different parts of your mouth.” (From, On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals by Why Umami Makes Foods Taste So Good Deliciousness in food is related to activating many of our taste receptors at the same time. A dish that contains some balance of natural sweetness and acid or sour, a little background of earthy bitter, properly seasoned with salt and the richness or depth provided by umami is extremely stimulating to all of the taste receptors, thus creating a satisfying “deliciousness.” Where is umami found? Umami is found in many foods, especially those that have undergone some type of fermentation or heat application, such aged cheese or over-roasting. Fermentation and heat helps break down proteins into small amino acid chains that stimulate the umami receptors. According to Jacqueline Marcus, matching foods with umami-rich ingredients that impart a significant umami taste such as seaweed or mushrooms may boost the overall a dish, and increase its flavor and desirability. Seaweed, such as kelp, wakame or nori is rich in iodine and glutamic acid, and adds a complex umami in umami taste to recipes, such as when kombu is used in savory dashi stock with dried bonito flakes. Seaweed’s salty taste enhances sweet ingredients such as prawns and tofu, and bittersweet foods such as shitake mushrooms or eggplant. Seaweed tastes sweeter if it is combined with other salty foods such as soy sauce. Dried shiitake, matsutake and enokitate mushrooms, and fresh shitake mushrooms are rich sources of nucleotides. The umani in mushrooms will intensify if roasted. Some mushrooms have a pronounced meaty taste, as portobellos. That’s probably why they are so popular on U.S. restaurant menus, often enhanced by umani-rich tomato products. Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is another umami taste-activator, as is hydrolyzed protein. Monosodium glutamate is the natural occurring salt of glutamic acid, extracted from seaweed or fermented from molasses or sugar beets. It is 78% glutamate acid and 12% sodium. Monosodium glutamate can contribute to an overall reduction of sodium in a recipe of food product. It has been speculated that the sodium ,au active the glutamate to produce the umami effect. Molecular gastronomy is a scientific approach to cooking and food preparation, based on modern knowledge of the way that the brain interprets smell and taste and challenges traditional perceptions and customs about what makes a dish worth eating. How Does Umami Enhance Flavor? According to Jacqueline Marcus, umami can enhance flavor by acting as a flavor partner, flavor layerer, flavor balancer or flavor catalyst among other functions. It creates a synergy with other flavor ingredients. *As a flavor partner, umami can create something new or superior to the original product. *As a flavor layerer, umami can help different flavors peak at different times.