The Fifth Taste
You probably know about the four basic tastes, sour, sweet, salty and bitter. But were you aware that there was a fifth? Just now coming into understanding by the scientific community, a taste known only as “Umami” has been understood by Japanese chefs for over 100 years. Translating roughly to ‘savory’, the taste is described as a sort of richness, or meatyness. It fills our mouth with satisfying savory goodness. As you can see, it is hard to describe.
Different taste systems evolved to help us get the nutrients we need. Our sweetness receptors let us know when we are eating enough sugars. We crave them because we need it. Salty sensors let us know if we are getting the required minerals with our food. Sour and bitter detectors help us identify potentially hazardous substances, such as poisonous fruits or bugs, which are likely to be acidic or alkali. Umami is our ‘protein’ taste. It is the flavor of free amino acids, particularly glutamates. In fact, MSG (monosodium glutamate), the sodium bound version of the glutamate molecule, was originally invented to enhance umami flavor. It makes sense that we would have taste receptors for umami, because our bodies need these amino acids, since they are the basic building blocks for proteins our body needs. To detect them and find them ‘delicious’ helps us get enough.
Umami is hard to describe in part because it is hard to identify compounds that are umami tasting. Salt is easy, we have pure table salt (sodium chloride) to taste. For sweet we have pure sugars, like glucose, fructose and sucrose. For bitter, alkaloids like those found in coffee are easily found. For sour, we have the acidic juice of a lemon. The numerous compounds that all contribute to umami are not as well understood, and not as readily isolated.
For comparison, imagine if pure sugar did not exist, and the sweetest things we had were carrots and milk. In that case, ‘sweetness’ would be as difficult to pinpoint and describe as umami is. Definitely there, and definitely playing part, but difficult to separate from its surroundings. There are few things in which umami is the dominant taste, and hence it is hard to clearly identify in the mind. But once aware of its presence, you can begin to taste more discriminatorily, looking for the similar taste in various umami rich foods.
If you wish to taste umami, look to fermented products. One of the richest sources of umami is fermented fish sauce, common in asian cooking. The sauce has a terribly pungent odor that feels like getting slapped in the face with a fermented anchovy. However, when cooked, the odors all cook off, and you are left with a very large quantity of amino acids, giving a strong umami flavor to the food. This accounts for much of the richness and savory flavor in what would be an ordinarily bland Thai dish. Umami is also found in some wines, aged cheeses, fermented soy sauce, aged meats, mushrooms, and certain vegetables, like asparagus. If you’ve ever wondered why anchovy is in caesar salad dressing, then now you know the answer. Simple vegetables take on a much richer and complex flavor with just a little umami. This is why caesar is one of the most popular salad dressings in the US.
This evening, as an experiment with umami, Barb, Dennis, Berg and I made a batch of Pad Thai noodles. Normally fish sauce is used (to give an umami flavor to normally not-very-savory tofu, noodles, and onion), but as a vegetarian, I needed another source of umami. We experimented with mushroom sauce, which is a salty, umami rich sauce derived from mushrooms. Used like fish sauce, it is very pungent, but leaves behind a rich flavor that is quite delicious.
Next time you are cooking a meal, think about your sources of umami, meats, aged cheeses, mushrooms, fermented sauces like fish sauce, mushroom sauce, fermented soy products like tempeh and soy sauce, and vegetables like asparagus and to a lesser degree, tomato. For a good non-asian example, imagine the goodness arising from pasta, cooked tomato sauce (cooking brings out much of the umami flavor in the tomato), and aged parmesan or romano cheeses. What would be pretty ordinary flavors come alive with the rich, savory flavor of umami. A little knowledge of this newly understood flavor can make your cooking experience much more effective.
Eat with pleasure.
Tuesday 26 Aug 2003 | Sam | Uncategorized
With just starting Weight Watchers today, that sure sounds yummy….
A form of “balanced” eating from (I think) ayruvedic (sp?) sources lists the five tastes that one should try to have equally as “sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and astringent”. I’m not certain if “astringent” is a (poor) translation of “umami” or not.
I imagine that proper use of umami could help any weight watchers diet. You can add a lot of flavor without resorting to things like fats and salts, which are commonly used to ‘flavor up’ foods..
And andrew, I like your idea.. I’m going to look in an old ayruvedic yoga book I have (that includes lots of odd dietary and other health related tidbits) for info on that.. Astringent doesn’t seem to be quite like umami, its more of the flavor you get if you eat an unripe persimmon (try it sometime). Its an interesting idea though, that others have determined there are more tastes than our classical 4.
I think I sensed the umami concept and flavor when first trying tofu. Tofu seemed to pick up and enhance the flavors of the other food it’s cooked with. It also satisfied what I call the carnivorous craving. It’s not meat, but satisfied the desire for meat. Maybe that’s my perception of umami.