Abstract
Umami is a characteristic taste imparted by glutamate and 5’-nucleotides such as inosinate and guanylate. Glutamate and nucleotides are present in many foods and play important roles in the flavor of foods. The taste was first discovered by K. Ikeda in 1908 who named this distinctive taste “umami.” There is no English word which is synonymous with umami, however it is most often described as savory, meaty or broth-like. Since the term, umami, is originally a Japanese term, many people think that umami is a unique oriental taste concept accepted only in Japan and a few other Asian countries. However, many researchers studied the unique taste quality of umami and established the idea of a fifth basic taste beyond sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Although the acceptance and classification of umami as a basic taste is a recent development, the taste is common to meat, fish, certain vegetables, mushrooms and cheese.
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Yamaguchi, S., Ninomiya, K. (1999). Umami and Food Palatability. In: Teranishi, R., Wick, E.L., Hornstein, I. (eds) Flavor Chemistry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4693-1_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4693-1_36
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