Umami Moment

[Mulboyne]

[amdg]

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

UMAMI Information Centre

To commemorate the launch of our new website, the Umami Information Center is offering FREE* copies of "Umami The World" to all those who register with us. As stocks are limited, this compact guide to the world of Umami is only available to a limited number of lucky individuals. Register with us now!

etc. etc.

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: A technique not to be taken with a pinch of salt
Hirakawa used to be a cook, but now he concentrates on making "Mataichi's salt," which is produced by hand using an elaborate process of towering bamboo filters...Hirakawa says the method produces concentrated flavor, just like konbu kelp. "Konbu becomes stronger in umami (flavor) when it is dried. It's the same with sea water, which is rich in minerals and gains flavor (through the process)."...At Tatsumizushi, a sushi shop in the Iwataya department store in Fukuoka's Chuo Ward, diners don't use soy sauce. Instead, salt water is applied over nigiri sushis..."This mild salt brings out the best taste in the fish. It also has its own umami, maybe because it is rich in minerals. Since we use fish from the Sea of Genkainada, salt that comes from the seawater there goes well with it,"

[devicenull]

Miso is full of it eh? We have a word for it in English already then, it is called "bad"

[American Oyaji]

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/tastebud.htm

[AssKissinger]

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/tastebud.htm

This was already posted slow poke.

[American Oyaji]

Where?
You mean the Umami moment thread?

[AssKissinger]

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?p=100450#post100450

[Kuang_Grade]

the FT does a piece on umani....below is all that I could snip out
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/25941010-054f-11da-97da-00000e2511c8.html

A sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese adds a thrilling kick to a bowlful of pasta in a tomato-based sauce. There's something indefinably delicious about a moist slice of Parma ham. And in Asian cooking, nothing yields a more beautiful soup than a rich stock base, made in Japan from kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes, or in China from chicken and pork enhanced by cured ham. We all know this, surely, and show it in our sighs of satisfaction at the dinner table.

Until recently this intensity of flavour in a whole range of ingredients was hard to describe, its source mysterious. But as science revolutionises our understanding of the senses, and of our perception of taste and flavour in particular, it's no longer so elusive. "The fifth taste", or umami as it's becoming known, is now broadly recognised as a distinct taste, alongside the traditional quartet of sweet, sour, salty and bitter. It was first identified in 1908 by the Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda, who was intrigued by the intensely delicious taste of the broth made from kombu seaweed. In his laboratory, he managed to isolate the source of this "wow factor", glutamates in the seaweed, and to their wonderful taste he gave the name umami, derived from the Japanese word for "delicious". His discovery led directly to the industrial manufacture in Japan, and then worldwide, of monosodium glutamate.

[6810]

This is really simple.

As all the info already posted suggests...

MSG was isolated in the early twentieth century in Japan. In 21st century Japan, MSG and related amino acid products are BIG business. Japanese companies and research labs currently work on breaking down various proteins, both animal and plant based into a variety of constituent amino acids.

If you don't know, MSG is derived from the breakdown of proteins into amino acids.

Thus in Japan, in the manufactured foods business, there are very few prodeucts which don't contain MSG or a million other varieties of amino acids. SO salt and vinegar chips inevitably contain pork, chicken and fish extract.

Why? Because as the above articles state, manufactured foods is big business in Japan. Without the science that produced MSG there would be no instant ramen, snack foods or even believe it or not sports drink. Next time you suck down some calpis or aquarius, read the ingredients, pretty disturbing.

So what's my point? Just like Japanese can only eat Japanese rice (because it is magical and pure) as well as they could only eat Japanese beef (back in the 70s and 80s there was a huge campaign to promote Japanese produced beef consumption) because of their magical extra-long long intestine (I kid you not, Japanese friends of mine still believe this research funded by the beef industry) etc ad nauseam... Only the Japanese can apparently taste "umami".

Which, frankly, is bullshit. Japanese are taste trained from birth, as the rest of us are, certain products, such as kombu (various enzymes similar to glutamate) and fermented soy products such as soy sauce and miso (which contain, not surprisingly dozens of broken down proteins - I mean, soy beans are pretty much pure protein, so you break them down through fermentation - which is how raw msg is also produced - you get a certain tastiness) are really savoury and have a certain "delicious-eneity" (whatever...) about them.

But think about it, so does western cuisine (and virtually all others on the planet). The break down of proteins can occur in a variety of ways, think about chilli con carne, bouillobaise (forgive me, I'm not French, but what I mean is that fish stew), Indian Curries, fish sauce (salt plus fermented, collapsed proteins anyone), or just about any soup base produced using animal products (flesh or otherwise).

In other words, protein rich foodstuffs enrich flavour as the proteins break down through cooking and fermentation. Proteins are constituted of various amino acids, which is what MSG is. So, MSG, or umami in a packet is simply a contemporary shortcut to simulating protein enriched flavour bases.

[senshisteph]

I've had actual evidence that it isn't only Japanese who can taste umami - I was teaching a class of year 10 students in the UK (back when I was a biology teacher) and we did the classic 'taste map' experiment. As well as the usual salt, sugar, etc. solutions I used a weak solution of MSG. And about 2/3 of the class were able to taste it. The majority of the class were caucasian, with a couple of British Asians - but no Japanese.

I know 30 is a small sample to generalise from but hey

[Mulboyne]

There are more like this here
Emedia: The Umami Collection - If You Know Umami, You Know About Wine and Food
Recommending wine for sushi just got as easy as selling another bottle of beer. We are proud to introduce UMAMI + SUSHI, a wine and food match made in 'heaven'...Lane Steinberg, who writes wine reviews in haiku form,composed a number of 'savory' wine haikus exclusively for the Umami Collection...The Umami Collection is part of JK Imports' 'concept wines' (old wine in new bottles).

[Mulboyne]

The Herald: Japanese have word for breeding perfect potato

The Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) has discovered that a Japanese concept of flavour may hold the key to breeding the perfect potato. According to research published in the Journal of Agriculture & Food Chemistry, new varieties of potatoes bred at SCRI, including Mayan Gold and Inca Sun, have better flavour than their more common relatives, thanks to their "umami"...Dr Mark Taylor of SCRI, who led the research, says the discovery is an important step in helping to create potatoes with better flavour..."What we've got at SCRI are potato varieties called Phurejas. They always come out top in flavour assessment scores from a range of potato types. "We found that the Phuregas always had more of the umami compounds and that there was a correlation with the taste panel score. It's the first time that the levels have been correlated with the taste panel data, which is the critical thing really," Taylor explained...more...

[GuyJean]

[Charles]

Sixth 'Taste' Discovered - Calcium

Here's the new taste sensation - your tongue might be able to taste calcium.

The capability to taste calcium has now been discovered in mice. With these rodents and humans sharing many of the same genes, the new finding suggests that people might also have such a taste.

The four tastes we are most familiar with are sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Recently scientists have discovered tongue molecules called receptors that detect a fifth distinct taste - "umami," or savory.

"But why stop there?" asked researcher Michael Tordoff, a behavioral geneticist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "My group has been investigating what we believe is another taste quality - calcium."

...more...

[Greji]

[sublight]

UMAMI Information Centre
etc. etc.

And by complete coincidence, the Umami Information Center just happens to be located in the same building as Ajinomoto headquarters. What are the odds?

[Mike Oxlong]

Variants of 'umami' taste receptor contribute to our individualized flavor worlds

Using a combination of sensory, genetic, and in vitro approaches, researchers from the Monell Center confirm that the T1R1-T1R3 taste receptor plays a role in human umami (amino acid) taste.

They further report that variations in the genes that code for this receptor correspond to individual variation in sensitivity to and perceived intensity of umami taste.

The findings, published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, strengthen the claim that umami is a fundamental human taste quality -- similar to sweet, salty, bitter and sour -- that indicates the presence of amino acids, peptides and related structures.

In the study, Breslin and his team first conducted sensory tests on 242 individuals, who were asked to discriminate the taste of weak L-glutamate from salt. Approximately 5% were unable to tell the two tastes apart, indicating that certain people are highly insensitive to umami and thus have difficulty detecting low levels of this taste quality.

An additional 87 individuals were asked to assess the intensity of glutamate's umami taste. The subjects tasted five concentrations of glutamate and rated the umami intensity of each on a scale that ranged from 'no sensation' to 'the strongest imaginable.'

The researchers next examined DNA from these 87 individuals to look for variations in the genes that code for T1R1 and T1R3, two protein subunits that combine to form the G-protein coupled receptor T1R1-T1R3. Comparing DNA structure to the glutamate taste responses of each individual, they found that variations (known as SNPs; single nucleotide polymorphisms) at three sites on the T1R3 gene were associated with increased sensitivity to glutamate taste.

A fourth set of studies used in vitro cell biology techniques to provide additional evidence that T1R1-T1R3 is a human amino acid taste receptor. When human T1R1-T1R3 receptors were expressed in a host cell line, these cells were able to respond specifically to L-glutamate.

Together, the findings demonstrate that the T1R1-T1R3 receptor significantly affects human sensitivity to umami taste from glutamate, and that individual differences in umami perception are due, at least in part, to coding variations in the T1R3 gene.

Full report at Science Blog

[Greji]

Variants of 'umami' taste receptor contribute to our individualized flavor worlds

Full report at Science Blog

Nice, but only Take and his mates have it, right?

[Taro Toporific]

[Mulboyne]

Umami Burger

[Greji]

[floatr]

Taro, I am really disapointed in you. You of all people should be aware of the rules of this board about posting information identifying members, or their photos.

I'm sure that Iraira did not want to have a photo posted of him pursuing his personal hobbies....

[Iraira]

Taro, I am really disapointed in you. You of all people should be aware of the rules of this board about posting information identifying members, or their photos.

I'm sure that Iraira did not want to have a photo posted of him pursuing his personal hobbies....

I'll admit to it. I was huffing kitty litter at the time. It was a seriously low moment in my life. Not even sure of the species or body part I was grabbing at the time. I only hope that my pitfall can serve as a warning to others.

[Greji]

I'll admit to it. I was huffing kitty litter at the time. It was a seriously low moment in my life. Not even sure of the species or body part I was grabbing at the time. I only hope that my pitfall can serve as a warning to others.

You are right to be ashamed and should reflect on how you've affected others. BTW where did you score the "kitty litter" and is it cheaper with an introduction?

[Iraira]

You are right to be ashamed and should reflect on how you've affected others. BTW where did you score the "kitty litter" and is it cheaper with an introduction?

Nancy Reagan said nothing about it being a gateway drug. I'm actually a little worried, as my main dealer just got busted, and I'm sure my name is on his cell phone. I'd better do some porn movies and flee to the Phillipines.

[Taro Toporific]

... ["kitty litter"] being a gateway drug...

Ask Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Ch&#226]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/1294d660c50a6857.jpg[/img]
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kitten_Huffing

[Coligny]

Ask Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Ch&#226]http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kitten_Huffing[/URL]

Nope, we only get high on catnip around here...

Need NBC gear for the litter anyway... that stuff can melt yer brain...