ICYMI: Published on Yahoo! Lifestyle (yahoo.com/lifestyle) August 1, 2019
Author: Corey Williams, contributor to Yahoo! Lifestyle and Editorial Fellow at MyRecipes.com
“Umami is the most recently identified and accepted of the basic tastes. It’s found in a variety of foods (like asparagus, tomatoes, cheese and meat), but all umami foods have one thing in common: They contain amino acids called glutamates, which are commonly added to some foods in the form of monosodium glutamate (MSG).”
“Umami’s history is as old as food itself”…
“French chef Auguste Escoffier was known for creating groundbreaking dishes in the 19th century that were deep and rich, but could not be described as salty, sweet, sour, or bitter. Many people credit him with ‘creating’ umami with his invention of veal stock. However, he did not try to classify the taste.
“The name ‘umami’ didn’t come around until 1908, when Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda pinpointed the presence of glutamic acid in foods with the specific characteristics he was trying to identify. He named the taste ‘umami’ which is Japanese for ‘good flavor.'”
What does umami taste like? Read more...
