It’s why we crave fries and ketchup, takeout roast-pork lo mein, gooey cheesy pizza, smoky barbecue and delicate sushi.It’s why ripe bananas are better than ones that are green. It’s why homegrown tomatoes are better than hothouse varieties. It’s why sauces always seem to taste better with a little Worcestershire sauce added.
The four long-established tastes - sweet, salty, bitter and sour help us survive. Sweet helps us instinctually find carbohydrates for energy, salt helps us crave essential minerals and the last two, bitter and sour, help us know when fruit isn’t ripe or a if something is spoiled.
But umami, well, it tells us when something is savory. It’s that taste-sensation that makes your mouth water and your taste buds tingle in anticipation.
“Umami, the fifth basic taste, is an inexplicable, delicious taste sensation that differs from sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes by providing a meaty, savory sensation,” Jacqueline Marcus, Kendall College’s Culinary Nutrition Program, said in Food Technology.
Literally translated, umami means ‘deliciousness’ in Japanese. Foods and individual ingredients rich in umami create a depth of flavor, enhance meatiness, create a pleasurable mouth feel and lend to the complexity and versatility of the end result.
Umami also accentuates the salty and the sweet elements of our food. Scientists and nutritionists have proven that umami is the result of levels of glutamates that occur naturally in a variety of foods. There are a variety of processes that break down proteins to create glutamates, or help release free glutamates found in produce, these include: ripening, drying, aging, curing, fermenting, braising, smoking and barbecuing.
So do glutamates sound familiar? How about MSG? Manufactured MSG is produced by the fermentation of starch, sugar beets, sugar cane and/or molasses. This flavor enhancer lost its popularity in the 1960’s when diners at Chinese restaurants attributed headaches, dizzy spells and other symptoms to MSG. Today, natural glutamates are found in a variety of prepared foods, usually listed as ‘natural flavorings.’
"The food industry is embracing umami as part of an effort to deliver highly flavored foods to consumers while also cutting back on fat, salt, sugar and artificial ingredients. At the same time, more consumers are scrutinizing food labels for chemical-sounding words and unhealthy ingredients," Katy McLaughlin, December 8, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal.
Increasing the umami levels of a recipe, without using umami-rich foods that are high in sodium like cured meats, can help the health conscious reduce salt levels by up to 50 percent and still keep the finished dish interesting and tasty.
Increasing the umami levels of a recipe, without using umami-rich foods that are high in sodium like cured meats, can help the health conscious reduce salt levels by up to 50 percent and still keep the finished dish interesting and tasty.
Umami can also heighten flavor and round out the savory aspect of a dish. It’s often what is missing when taste test recipes and they seem bland. It’s also why braising – when we caramelize a roast, chicken etc. and finish cooking it low and slow, creates some of the most flavorful dishes we crave. While Asian cuisines are naturally umami-rich, many Western cuisines rely on fat to have the same effect.
“These full-bodied flavors that convey hours of cooking time may help today’s consumer who has little time to cook,” Jacqueline Marcus, chair of Kendall College’s Culinary Nutrition Program, said in Food Technology.
Utilizing umami-rich ingredients can help us create rich flavors and cheap eats at home. Here is a list, by all means not comprehensible, of foods high in umami:
Dairy products
Of course milk contains proteins that result in producing glutamates and ultimately umami. Aging, processing and fermenting only increase umami, which is why aged cheeses are a good place to start on your umami quest.
Try:
Parmesan cheese
Blue cheese
Gruyere
Gouda
Goat cheese
Drinks for imbibing and cooking
The fermentation used to create wine and beer develops umami, just like cooking with both of them can help increase umami levels in other dishes. The higher levels of umami in dark beers and aged wines are also why these are more flavorable.
Green tea also offers umami, with its slightly smoky overtone and floral flavors that are concentrated through the drying process. Try adding a little tea to the hot coals the next time your barbecue.
From the sea
Almost anything that grows or swims in the sea offer high levels of umami. Anchovies, which are made into fish sauce and are the key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce, have one of the highest levels. Seaweed, when dried and formed into sheets of nori used for sushi rolls, are a versatile way to enhance the umami of various recipes – either as a chiffonade for a garnish or added to store-bought stock.
Japanese soups and sauces benefit from the sea through the use of dashi, or dried bonito (tuna) flakes that are re-hydrated in hot water to create broth for udon noodles, and more. Dashi can be found in most Asian markets relatively inexpensive and works well to deepen and enrich a variety of Western recipes.
Try:
Kelp/Seaweed/Nori
Anchovies
Mackerel
Sardines
Prawns
Lobster
Scallops
Fresh Clams
Oysters
Tuna/ Bonito/Dashi
Sea Bream
Smoked or cured fish
Roaming the land
The protein levels of chicken and duck offer high amounts of glutamate. To further enhance their umami levels, try smoking, barbecuing and braising.
Beef of course falls into this category. The search for umami is also why an aged steak or roast tastes even better – the process dries and begins to ferment the beef, breaking down the proteins and releasing more glutamates.
And last, but certainly not least, don't forget cured meats like bacon, prosciuto, smoked sausages and more. The curing processes for these does increase sodium levels, but it also makes them one of the easiest, and inexpensive ways, to create rich flavor.
On the side or in the sauce: condiments and broths
Probably one of the easiest ways to start playing with increasing umami at home are sauces and condiments, try some of these:
“These full-bodied flavors that convey hours of cooking time may help today’s consumer who has little time to cook,” Jacqueline Marcus, chair of Kendall College’s Culinary Nutrition Program, said in Food Technology.
Utilizing umami-rich ingredients can help us create rich flavors and cheap eats at home. Here is a list, by all means not comprehensible, of foods high in umami:
Dairy products
Of course milk contains proteins that result in producing glutamates and ultimately umami. Aging, processing and fermenting only increase umami, which is why aged cheeses are a good place to start on your umami quest.
Try:
Parmesan cheese
Blue cheese
Gruyere
Gouda
Goat cheese
Drinks for imbibing and cooking
The fermentation used to create wine and beer develops umami, just like cooking with both of them can help increase umami levels in other dishes. The higher levels of umami in dark beers and aged wines are also why these are more flavorable.
Green tea also offers umami, with its slightly smoky overtone and floral flavors that are concentrated through the drying process. Try adding a little tea to the hot coals the next time your barbecue.
From the sea
Almost anything that grows or swims in the sea offer high levels of umami. Anchovies, which are made into fish sauce and are the key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce, have one of the highest levels. Seaweed, when dried and formed into sheets of nori used for sushi rolls, are a versatile way to enhance the umami of various recipes – either as a chiffonade for a garnish or added to store-bought stock.
Japanese soups and sauces benefit from the sea through the use of dashi, or dried bonito (tuna) flakes that are re-hydrated in hot water to create broth for udon noodles, and more. Dashi can be found in most Asian markets relatively inexpensive and works well to deepen and enrich a variety of Western recipes.
Try:
Kelp/Seaweed/Nori
Anchovies
Mackerel
Sardines
Prawns
Lobster
Scallops
Fresh Clams
Oysters
Tuna/ Bonito/Dashi
Sea Bream
Smoked or cured fish
Roaming the land
The protein levels of chicken and duck offer high amounts of glutamate. To further enhance their umami levels, try smoking, barbecuing and braising.
Beef of course falls into this category. The search for umami is also why an aged steak or roast tastes even better – the process dries and begins to ferment the beef, breaking down the proteins and releasing more glutamates.
And last, but certainly not least, don't forget cured meats like bacon, prosciuto, smoked sausages and more. The curing processes for these does increase sodium levels, but it also makes them one of the easiest, and inexpensive ways, to create rich flavor.
On the side or in the sauce: condiments and broths
Probably one of the easiest ways to start playing with increasing umami at home are sauces and condiments, try some of these:
Soy Sauce – made from fermented soy beans
Vegemite/Marmite – made from yeast proteins
Fish Sauce – made from anchovies, a key ingredient in Asian recipes
Ketchup – creating sauces with ketchup as the base, where the ketchup is reduced, is inexpensive and creates, rich, savory sauces (try using organic ketchup) that can be further enhanced with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, etc.
Homemade stocks – make them from bones, especially roasted/browned bones; or reduce store-bought broths to concentrate their flavors
Anchovy sauce/paste – this is why Caesar salads taste so good
Worcestershire sauce – besides the anchovies, this old British import also has dried orange peels adding to its richness - it’s a great addition to soups, stews and sauces
Balsamic vinegar – this vinegar’s deep, dark, tangy and earthy flavor comes from aging in wood barrels
Dust Off the dirt
Free glutamates, those that are not attached to the breakdown of protein strands, are found in a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables – the riper the better, and the more umami.
Try:
Peas –fresh peas have higher levels of glutamate then a seared steak)
Mushrooms – shiitake, matsuke, enokitake . . . especially if they’re dried
Tomatoes –fresh juice, ketchup, paste or sun-dried
Potatoes – frying or roasting potatoes reduces their water content and increases their umami
Plus: corn, Chinese cabbage, carrots, beets, spinach and other greens, soybeans, sugar snap peas and grapefruit, which has the highest levels of umami of all the citrus fruits.
- GE, 5/5/08
Vegemite/Marmite – made from yeast proteins
Fish Sauce – made from anchovies, a key ingredient in Asian recipes
Ketchup – creating sauces with ketchup as the base, where the ketchup is reduced, is inexpensive and creates, rich, savory sauces (try using organic ketchup) that can be further enhanced with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, etc.
Homemade stocks – make them from bones, especially roasted/browned bones; or reduce store-bought broths to concentrate their flavors
Anchovy sauce/paste – this is why Caesar salads taste so good
Worcestershire sauce – besides the anchovies, this old British import also has dried orange peels adding to its richness - it’s a great addition to soups, stews and sauces
Balsamic vinegar – this vinegar’s deep, dark, tangy and earthy flavor comes from aging in wood barrels
Dust Off the dirt
Free glutamates, those that are not attached to the breakdown of protein strands, are found in a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables – the riper the better, and the more umami.
Try:
Peas –fresh peas have higher levels of glutamate then a seared steak)
Mushrooms – shiitake, matsuke, enokitake . . . especially if they’re dried
Tomatoes –fresh juice, ketchup, paste or sun-dried
Potatoes – frying or roasting potatoes reduces their water content and increases their umami
Plus: corn, Chinese cabbage, carrots, beets, spinach and other greens, soybeans, sugar snap peas and grapefruit, which has the highest levels of umami of all the citrus fruits.
- GE, 5/5/08
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