Becky Krystal
THE WASHINGTON POST – If you’ve come across any type of food writing, you’ve encountered the word “umami”. Maybe it’s that the word is Japanese in origin or just cool-sounding, but often the term is used as a stand-in when a writer can’t pinpoint the appeal of a food. It lends mystery, sure. In actuality, however, there’s a lot we do know about this “fifth taste” and how it works, as well as how you can make it work for you.
WHAT IT IS
Depending on whom you ask, umami translates to something akin to “savory” or “deliciousness.” According to one of my favorite food science sources, Robert Wolke, who wrote a few columns about the topic in The Washington Post, umami evolved from “umai,” the Japanese word for tasty.
Most of us learned about the four basic tastes in school – sweet, sour, salty and bitter – and in the time since Japanese chemistry professor Kikunae Ikeda identified umami at the dawn of the 20th century, it has joined the club as the fifth.
“Umami is valuable to cooks for many reasons: it draws out the flavours of other ingredients in a dish, adds a depth and satisfying savory flavour, balances the overall taste of a dish and reduces the need for additional salt,” writes Atsuko Ikeda in Atsuko’s Japanese Kitchen: Home-Cooked Comfort Food Made Simple.
The Umami Information Center (yes, it’s a thing!), founded by a group of researchers in Japan in the 1980s, notes that umami has three main characteristics: It is experienced across the tongue, lingers in the mouth and promotes saliva, which is why umami is often associated with a particularly noticeable mouthfeel.
HOW IT WORKS
Umami itself is not an ingredient. It’s not something you find in food. Rather, it’s a reaction to and perception of what we’re eating. A family of chemicals called glutamates is primarily responsibly for creating the umami sensation. Glutamates “are salts of glutamic acid, one of the amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins,” Wolke explains.
In addition to receptors for the other four tastes, our tongue has receptors for glutamates. Being able to perceive glutamates means our bodies are also able to perceive when we eat proteins. “Sensing umami triggers the secretion of saliva and digestive juices, facilitating the smooth digestion of protein,” according to the Umami Information Center. And that’s an important survival skill, as important as our body’s ability to know when something is bitter, sweet or salty.
While glutamates are the MVP of umami, there is another group of chemicals called inosinates that contributes to the cause. They are a kind of umami amplifier. Like inosinates, guanylates are another umami-enhancing chemical.
THE FOOD
Kikunae Ikeda unearthed the presence of glutamates thanks to his study of the seaweed kombu, a crucial ingredient in savory Japanese broths. Like kombu, some ingredients, such as anchovies, tomatoes and mushrooms, are naturally high in glutamates. Other foods are high in glutamates because of how they’re processed. Wolke explains that proteins themselves are too big to affix themselves to our taste receptors, which is why it takes some breaking down for us to register them.
Hence, the particular umami appeal of cooked meat. Fermented or aged foods also go through this kind of transformation, which is why cheese and fermented condiments are also closely associated with umami. Tomato paste concentrates what’s already in the fruit as well.
In terms of glutamates’ partners in crime, if you’re looking for foods that are high in inosinates, consider anchovies or sardines and bonito (dried fish flakes). Dried mushrooms are high in guanylates.