It’s the fifth taste – a savoury flavour that makes things like delicious parmesan cheese and bone-warming broth so hard to resist. Chances are, you’ve been craving for umami without even realising it.
Click start to play today’s Crossword, where “umami” is the answer to one of the clues. Don’t forget to visit Gulf News’ Food section, where you can find a variety of recipes, cuisines and lots more.
After salt, sweet, sour, and bitter, umami (which translates to “delicious savoury taste” in Japanese) is the latest, and perhaps final, jigsaw puzzle piece that fit our gastronomic evolution. Chefs and home cooks have known of it, intuitively, for centuries.
According to an April 2013 report in UK-based news website The Guardian, legendary 19th century French chef Escoffier was one of the people who felt sure that a savoury fifth taste was the secret to his success. He’s credited with inventing veal stock, so he was definitely onto something. Even the Romans enjoyed umami – they apparently loved liquamen, a fermented anchovy sauce, which they used as liberally as we use ketchup, using it as a dipping sauce with everything.
The term “umami” was coined in 1908 by a Japanese chemist at Tokyo University, named Kikunae Ikada. He realised that there was an unusual but specific taste that underlined different foods – from asparagus and tomatoes to cheese and meat. But it was strongest in dashi, a rich stock that was made with kombu (kelp). By focusing on kombu, he eventually pinpointed the taste to glutamate, an amino acid that’s the source of umami’s savoury sensation. Ikada then went on to produce the flavour commercially and patented the flavour enhancer MSG (monosodium glutamate).
Umami’s essence is usually released in something that’s been slow-cooked for a long time – broths and soups are ‘very umami’. Fermentation also frees its flavour, so cheese, cured meats and soy sauce have umami in spades. In the vegetable world, mushrooms are high in glutamate, and items that children usually enjoy have it too: petit pois, sweetcorn and sweet cherry tomatoes are full of umami.
Discover umami in your kitchen with this recipe for a simple chicken soup or this ultimate beef bone broth.
Which is your favourite food that brings out the fifth taste? Play today’s Crossword and tell us at games@gulfnews.com.
