Italiano
Not many, at least in Western countries, know the 5 basic tastes.
In fact, if you ask someone which is the fifth of these (besides salty, sweet, bitter and sour) not many will be able to give the correct answer.
Well, it is Umami, a Japanese term that can be translated as “savory”.
Its discoverer was Japanese – the chemist Kikunae Ikeda.
Dr. Ikeda spent time in Germany in the early 20th century to complete his studies. During that period, he realized that, in German cuisine, there were some foods (as such cheese, asparagus, tomatoes and meat) with a singular flavor, not linkable to any of the four fundamental tastes.
Once back in Japan, he noticed that he found that particular flavory taste in “dashi“, a simple kombu seaweed broth.
Ikeda, after careful research, discovered that glutamic acid, an amino acid present in various foods, was responsible for this taste.
Ikeda isolated it, weakening its acidity by adding sodium bicarbonate, thus giving life to monosodium glutamate, the flavor enhancer E621, and patenting it, on April 24th, 1908.
It took a long time for the West to recognize umami, despite this being present in very common foods in the cuisines of Europe and America, such as: sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies, squid, oysters, mussels, long aged cheeses (such as Parmigiano Reggiano and Cheddar), dry-cured ham.
And dry-aged meat.
Yes, because the dry-ageing process enhance the umami flavour in the meat.
Speaking of which, I do supply Inox Bim dry-aging cabinets.
