【Reading】うまみ

【English Name】Umami

Umami is a taste positioned as one of the five basic tastes, alongside sweetness, sourness, saltiness, and bitterness. In 1908 (Meiji 41), Professor Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University succeeded in isolating glutamic acid in his research on kombu dashi, and gave the name "umami" to this unique taste that could not be explained by the existing four basic tastes.

Umami substances are broadly organized into three types. First is glutamic acid, an amino acid type, abundantly supplied by kombu, tomatoes, cheese, and the like. Next is inosinic acid, a nucleotide type, present in large amounts in katsuobushi, meats, and dried sardines (niboshi). Another is guanylic acid, also a nucleotide type, obtained from dried shiitake mushrooms and the like. Inosinic acid was isolated and identified by Shintaro Kodama from katsuobushi in 1913, and guanylic acid by Akira Kuninaka from shiitake in 1957.

Umami holds special significance in relation to sushi. When the inosinic acid in seafood meets the glutamic acid derived from kombujime or soy sauce, a phenomenon occurs in which umami is amplified synergistically. The Japanese culinary method of combining kombu dashi and katsuo dashi also makes use of this very same principle.

In the West, umami long failed to gain recognition as an independent fifth taste, but the situation changed dramatically in 2000 when glutamate receptors were scientifically confirmed on the taste buds of the tongue. Spurred by this discovery, the word "umami"—taken directly from the Japanese—came to be widely used in the English-speaking world as well.