At school we have been taught that there are four basic flavors: sweet, salty, bitter and acid , but in recent years there has been a need to take into account a fifth flavor, which until the moment had been overlooked.They call it " Umami ", which in Japanese means something like "pleasant or tasty flavor".
Although we have to make a nuance.There are many those who refuse to accept the existence of this fifth flavor.The reason? Because more than a flavor that we can all identify, the umami would be rather a perception, an indefinable sensation that does not abound too much in our food and that only chefs strive to seek to give their dishes an almost addictive flavor.Have you ever asked why Japanese food is so tasty ? Or why do we like french fries or snaks so much? Why most contain umami, or what is the same "monosodium glutamate".
But what does the "Umami" taste like?
Here comes the key question: what does the Umami taste like? Scientists clarify that more than a taste is a sensation, u a pleasant sensation .The Umami induces salivation, pleasantly stimulates our tongue, throat and palate, welcoming that food if it contains umami with great pleasure.Think of a fried potato, a hamburger or that Japanese dish of kombu dashi (seaweed soup)… All this has in its composition this unclassifiable, but tasty element.
The most skeptical chefs explain that this sensation is also eaten, for example, melon with ham.A mixture of sweet and savory, neither one thing nor the other.Something that we can also find with tomatoes, for example, or Parmesan cheese, soy sauce or serrano ham.The secret of this supposed fifth flavor would be basically in the monosodium glutamate .The supposed umami flavor is in shape natural in some previously cited foods such as tomatoes, but It is usually used as an artificial flavor enhancer.
Tomatoes and Parmesan cheese are rich in monosodium glutamateDiscovery of the flavor "Unami"
Glutamate has always been in our dishes since ancient times.They used fermented fish sauces rich in this element.Also in the 19th century, one of the most famous chefs in Paris was celebrated, precisely, by combining in his culinary creations the Umami flavor with sweet, salty and bitter.
But it was in 1908 when a Japanese scientist, called Kikunae Ikeda, discovered that there was a chemical element that stimulated more taste buds, promoting a very nice taste And that's what I call it, "Umami", tasty flavor.From then on, monosodium glutamate began to be used as a basic element of oriental cuisine, combining it with multiple foods, creating suggestive and addictive dishes that naturally and artificially contained this enhancer.
Where are the taste receptors of Umami?
In order for us to accept the existence of a taste, receptors must be found in the tongue capable of reacting to that element.And so it was, in the year 2000, scientists from the University of Miami demonstrated us Yes, that indeed there were glutamate receptors (three in total) , but they were really very different from the others.Later, the New York Academy of Sciences explained that they were dispersed throughout the language, that is to say "there is no exclusive region for umami" These data can see, if you are interested, in the journal «The journal of Phisiology».
But despite everything, we must say that there are still many who do not accept that the umami it is the fifth flavor, it would be rather a "sensation" and not a taste as is .We must also remember the bad popular press that monosodium glutamate has, hence it is an open topic and with a certain controversy.
As a curiosity, you may wonder at this time if the spicy is also a taste.The answer is "no." And why? basically because we do not have taste buds that receive the spicy, but for sweet, salty, bitter, acid and umami. The spicy is perceived thanks to the nocipceptors, or pain pathways.Something stimulating, but sometimes...painful, and that, as you know, is associated with our personality.
And now tell us, have you ever perceived the Umami flavor?
Image: Claudia_midori, Berlin IckLiebeDir, Alpha, Lionel Martinez
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