the.com/umami
the fifth taste that explains why you can't stop eating things you can't name
means The savory, mouth-filling taste—distinct from sweet, sour, salty, and bitter—produced by glutamates in foods like aged cheese, ripe tomatoes, mushrooms, soy sauce, and broth.
from Straight from Japanese: umai (delicious) plus mi (taste), so literally 'delicious taste.' The concept was named in the early 20th century by chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who tracked the haunting savoriness of kombu seaweed broth to glutamic acid—a discovery that launched MSG. The word only entered wide English use much later, once Western science finally accepted that the tongue counts to five.
- discovery
- Identified in 1908 by chemist Kikunae Ikeda
- the molecule
- Glutamate triggers it, same as in MSG
- meaning
- Japanese for delicious or savory essence
- tongue receptors
- Humans have dedicated taste buds for it
- hidden everywhere
- Parmesan, tomatoes, breast milk all loaded with it
monosodium glutamate — flavor enhancer discovered in 1908 by kikunae ikeda in kombu seaweed broth
parmigiano reggiano — aged italian cheese with 1200mg/100g free glutamates, highest in foods
dashi — japanese stock made from kombu and bonito fish, foundational umami combination