{"id":12384,"date":"2013-10-15T11:58:38","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T09:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comacitalia.it\/il-quinto-gusto-umai\/"},"modified":"2013-10-15T11:58:38","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T09:58:38","slug":"the-fifth-taste-umai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vipgo.atsautomation.com\/comac\/curiosities\/the-fifth-taste-umai\/","title":{"rendered":"The fifth taste: UMAI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UMAI! Exclaims a Japanese person when tastes something really yummy, delicious, appetizing, exciting for the palate\u2026in short: GOOD!<\/h3>\n

\"Il<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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UMAI\u00a0<\/strong>is one of the first word that Japanese children learn and it recalls all the pleasure of a good tasty food. If at the adjective UMAI you add the noun MI (flavor, taste), the word\u00a0UMAMI<\/strong>\u00a0is done..Such a new and cool expression\u2026Lately very\u00a0popular in the world of sommelerie and restaurants<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be serious: we have been taught \u00a0that the taste buds identify 4 primary tastes – sweet, bitter, salty and sour \u2013 and from this combination originate all the others flavors we know. But in \u201980 some Western scientists and Japanese ones discovered the\u00a0fifth taste<\/strong>: savory, tasty and similar to the meat soup or, to be\u00a0closer to the East areas<\/strong>, similar to the unmistakable flavor of soy sauce.<\/p>\n

A taste that has always been with us but we have never been able to recognize.<\/p>\n

\"Il<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You cannot immediately feel it because\u2026 it\u2019s partially hidden:\u00a0the umami receptors are \u00a0in the back side of the tongue<\/strong>, they cause a soft stimulation of the throat and are stimulated not only while chewing but also after swallowing. For this reason, it\u2019s defined as an\u00a0aftertaste<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Actually it was not the arrival of the Japanese sushi neither the Chinese caramelized duck to cause the birth of the fifth taste: it has always been present in our culinary tradition, without being able to discern it from the other 4.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Parmesan cheese has the primate of umami<\/strong>\u00a0and overcomes every other dressing with about 9 grams of glutamate, linked with other proteins, for every 100 grams of cheese. This explains why it is used in a multitude of recipes. And while meats have about 2-3 grams of glutamate, peas count around 5 gr\u2026 that\u2019s easy to understand why kids prefer them compared to the spinach with only 0.3 gr.!<\/p>\n

UMAI! Good meant as\u00a0TASTY<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

The worldwide approval of the pizza can be easily explained: the different kind of pizzas are normally topped with products of \u00a0a high umami content. The ripe tomatoes, as well as mozzarella, \u00a0contain more glutamate compared to the soy sauce and the anchovies give the final contribution.<\/p>\n

And why beer is linked with the umami?<\/p>\n

The combination of different elements of umami is able to create interesting experiences in the world of flavors: this is one of the key to understand how the different beer flavors pair with food in order to create the umami\u2019s pleasure.<\/p>\n

In other words, when we eat meat, fish and mushrooms (foods with high content of umami) we exalt their taste by adding salt or spices with high acidity and bitterness. In the\u00a0craft beer<\/strong>\u00a0we find two out of three of them: the acidity and the bitterness.<\/p>\n

An example could be the pairing between oysters and Stout, for many people, a winning combination: the acidity, given by the beer fermentation, united with the typical flavor of roasted malt and barley helps the appearance of umami proteins in the oysters, leading to a \u201cwow\u201d experience.<\/p>\n

Do you want to discover the umami taste?\u00a0Try the following pairings<\/strong>\u00a0(and let us know):<\/p>\n