旨味

Elyse and I were talking about 旨味 last night because Elyse had toured a chocolate factory during the day. She had a lot of fun, although she was dissappointed that the Oompa-Loompa's weren't around. Personally I'd feel gyped if I didn't get to see any kind of fantasical midget at a chocolate factory, but then again, the tour didn't require a golden ticket. Apparently, 旨味 came up during the tour.

旨味 is a topic that was either undiscovered when I was in elementary school, or they didn't teach me, or I just forgot. As you may or may not know, there are five basic flavors that your tongue can detect; sweet and salty near the tip of your tongue, sour on the sides, and bitter and 旨味 near the back. 旨味 taste buds are essentially protein detectors.

旨味 is also what separates your homemade stock from store bought stuff. Taste the store bought stuff and you'll notice a real kick at the front of your tongue, along with a fairly intense smell of chicken. Near the back of the tongue - nothing. I have never figured out how the store bought stocks smell like chicken, but seem to contain very little protein. Anyway, a homemade stock won't hit you with the salt, nor will it smell chickeny in the same way, but you'll notice the hearty protein content, which will come through when you use it as a soup base, or reduce it for a sauce.

I first learned about 旨味 while reading an article in the New Yorker about ketchup, by Gladwell, back in 2004. Apparently Heinz ketchup hits all 5 tastes in some sort of magical proportion, which is why they are the only brand on the market. This is opposed to, say, mustard, which has many varieties. The article blew my mind because I had never heard about 旨味! Probably some of you have had your mind blown today, too. Even if you have heard of 旨味, the article is fairly interesting, covering a little bit of the science of taste, and the history of ketchup. You can read the article here,
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/09/06/040906fa_fact_gladwell

Finally, I would like to point out that 旨味 (pronounced umami) is also noteworthy because we don't use many Japanese words in English. The words that we do use tend to be names of foods, like sushi, or sashimi. 旨味 is food-related, but not a food itself.