Umami

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Unami.

Umami
tomatoes and miso
are examples of foods rich in umami components

Umami (/uːˈmɑːmi/ from Japanese: 旨味 Japanese pronunciation: [ɯmami]), or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes.[1] It has been described as savory and is characteristic of broths and cooked meats.[2][3][4][5]: 35–36 

People taste umami through

inosine monophosphate (IMP) or guanosine monophosphate (GMP).[6][7][8] Since umami has its own receptors rather than arising out of a combination of the traditionally recognized taste receptors, scientists now consider umami to be a distinct taste.[1][9]

Foods that have a strong umami flavor include meats, shellfish, fish (including fish sauce and preserved fish such as Maldives fish, Katsuobushi, sardines, and anchovies), tomatoes, mushrooms, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, meat extract, yeast extract, kimchi, cheeses, and soy sauce.

Etymology

A loanword from Japanese (うま味), umami can be translated as "pleasant savory taste".[10] This neologism was coined in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda from a nominalization of umai (うまい) "delicious". The compound 旨味 (with mi (味) "taste") is used for a more general sense of a food as delicious.[11][12][13] There is no current English equivalent of umami; however, some close descriptions are "meaty", "savory", and "broth-like".[14]

Background

Scientists have debated whether umami was a basic

inosine monophosphate (IMP).[14] It can be described as a pleasant "brothy" or "meaty
" taste with a long-lasting, mouthwatering and coating sensation over the tongue.

The sensation of umami is due to the detection of the

glutamates, give the characteristic umami taste due to their ionized state. GMP and IMP amplify the taste intensity of glutamate.[22]
Adding salt to the free acids also enhances the umami taste.[23]

Monosodium

L-aspartate has an umami taste about four times less intense than MSG, whereas ibotenic acid and tricholomic acid (likely as their salts or with salt) are claimed to be many times more intense.[23]

Discovery

Kikunae Ikeda

bitter tastes.[9]
However, he did not know the chemical source of this unique quality.

Umami was first scientifically identified in 1908 by

Tokyo Imperial University. He found that glutamate was responsible for the palatability of the broth from kombu seaweed. He noticed that the taste of kombu dashi was distinct from sweet, sour, bitter, and salty and named it umami.[16]

Professor Shintaro Kodama, a disciple of Ikeda, discovered in 1913 that

synergistic effect between ribonucleotides and glutamate. When foods rich in glutamate are combined with ingredients that have ribonucleotides, the resulting taste intensity is higher than would be expected from merely adding the intensity of the individual ingredients.[14]

This synergy of umami may help explain various classical food pairings: the Japanese make dashi with

Parmigiano-Reggiano
cheese on a variety of different dishes.

Properties

Umami has a mild but lasting aftertaste associated with salivation and a sensation of furriness on the tongue, stimulating the throat, the roof and the back of the mouth.

palatable, but it makes a great variety of foods pleasant, especially in the presence of a matching aroma.[33] Like other basic tastes, umami is pleasant only within a relatively narrow concentration range.[31]

The optimum umami taste depends also on the amount of salt, and at the same time, low-salt foods can maintain a satisfactory taste with the appropriate amount of umami.

chicken broth, tomato sauce, or coconut curry while maintaining overall taste intensity.[36][37]

Some population groups, such as the elderly, may benefit from umami taste because their taste and smell sensitivity may be impaired by age and medication. The loss of taste and smell can contribute to poor nutrition, increasing their risk of disease.[38] Some evidence exists to show umami not only stimulates appetite, but also may contribute to satiety.[39]

Foods rich in umami components

Anchovies
are rich in umami

Many foods are rich in the amino acids and nucleotides imparting umami. Naturally occurring glutamate can be found in meats and vegetables.

IMP) comes primarily from meats and guanosine (GMP) from vegetables. Mushrooms, especially dried shiitake, are rich sources of umami flavor from guanylate. Smoked or fermented fish are high in inosinate, and shellfish in adenylate.[5]: 11, 52, 110 [40]

Generally, umami taste is common to foods that contain high levels of

natto, nutritional yeast, and yeast extracts such as Vegemite and Marmite.[2][41]

Studies have shown that the amino acids in breast milk are often the first encounter humans have with umami. Glutamic acid makes up half of the free amino acids in breast milk.[42][2][5]

Taste receptors

See also: Taste receptor § Savory or glutamates (Umami)

Most

Biochemical studies have identified the taste receptors responsible for the sense of umami as modified forms of mGluR4, mGluR1, and taste receptor type 1 (TAS1R1 + TAS1R3), all of which have been found in all regions of the tongue bearing taste buds.[8][6][43] These receptors are also found in some regions of the duodenum.[44] A 2009 review corroborated the acceptance of these receptors, stating, "Recent molecular biological studies have now identified strong candidates for umami receptors, including the heterodimer TAS1R1/TAS1R3, and truncated type 1 and 4 metabotropic glutamate receptors missing most of the N-terminal extracellular domain (taste-mGluR4 and truncated-mGluR1) and brain-mGluR4."[18]

Receptors mGluR1 and mGluR4 are specific to glutamate whereas TAS1R1 + TAS1R3 are responsible for the synergism already described by Akira Kuninaka in 1957. However, the specific role of each type of receptor in taste bud cells remains unclear. They are

PI3-mediated release of calcium (Ca2+) from intracellular stores.[45] Calcium activates a so-called transient-receptor-potential cation channel TRPM5 that leads to membrane depolarization and the consequent release of ATP and secretion of neurotransmitters including serotonin.[46][47][48][49]

Cells responding to umami taste stimuli do not possess typical

gut-brain axis.[1][50][51]

Consumers and safety

Umami has become popular as a flavor with food manufacturers trying to improve the taste of low sodium offerings.

symptoms in a few of the subjects, and only when the MSG was consumed in unrealistically large quantities.[54] There is also no apparent difference in sensitivity to umami when comparing Japanese and Americans.[55]

Background of other taste categories

The five basic tastes (saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and savoriness) are detected by specialized taste receptors on the tongue and palate epithelium.[56] The number of taste categories in humans remains under research, with a sixth taste possibly including spicy or pungent.[57]

See also

References

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Further reading

External links
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