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• Umami is a Japanese term describing a "fifth taste". The four traditional tastes are sour, sweet, salty and bitter. Umami is found in MSG as well as in seaweed, aged wines and aged cheeses. The taste of umami is often described as "salty," "savory," "meaty" or "brothy."MSNBC: Recipes For The ‘Fifth’ Taste: Umami (January 10, 2008)

• Fast Facts

  1. Refers to a sense of full flavorMSNBC: Recipes For The ‘Fifth’ Taste: Umami (January 10, 2008)
  2. Discovered by Kikunae Ikeda in 1908Japan Patent Office: Ten Japanese Great Inventors: Kikunae Ikeda Sodium Glutamate
  3. Means "delicious" in JapaneseJapan Patent Office: Ten Japanese Great Inventors: Kikunae Ikeda Sodium Glutamate
  4. Monosodium Glutamate is pure umami flavor"A New Taste Sensation " December 8, 2007

• Umami Taste Receptors

  Although umami was discovered more than 100 years ago, scientists only recently unlocked where and how how taste bud receptors perceive the flavor. In 2006, researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York proposed that more than one taste bud receptor was responsible for the umami flavor.Journal of Neuroscience:Umami Responses in Mouse Taste Cells Indicate More than One Receptor(February 22, 2006)

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Japan | Sushi | Monosodium Glutamate | Seaweed | Wine | Cheese | Mushrooms | Japaneese Food | Nori | Parmesan Cheese | Soy Sauce

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