From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Umami (旨味, Umami?) is one of the five basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue.[1] The same taste is also known as xiānwèi (traditional Chinese: 鮮味; simplified Chinese: 鲜味) in Chinese cooking.
Umami is a Japanese word meaning savory, a "deliciousness" factor deriving specifically from detection of the natural amino acid, glutamic acid, or glutamates common in meats, cheese, broth, stock, and other protein-heavy foods. The action of umami receptors explains why foods treated with monosodium glutamate (MSG) often taste "heartier".
Glutamate has a long history in cooking: it appears in Asian foods such as soy sauce and fish sauce, and in Italian food in parmesan cheese and anchovies. It also is directly available in monosodium glutamate (MSG).[2]
In as much as it describes the flavor common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and mushrooms, umami is similar to Brillat-Savarin's concept of osmazome, an early attempt to describe the main flavoring component of meat as extracted in the process of making stock.
[edit] Chemical properties
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Umami was first identified as a basic taste in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University while researching the strong flavor in seaweed broth.[3][4] Ikeda isolated monosodium glutamate as the chemical responsible and, with the help of the Ajinomoto company, began commercial distribution of MSG products.
[edit] Taste receptors
Acknowledged subjectively as a special taste by Eastern civilizations for generations, umami has been described in biochemical studies identifying the actual taste receptor responsible for the sense of umami, a modified form of mGluR4[5] named "taste-mGluR4".
Umami tastes are initiated by these specialized receptors, with subsequent steps involving secretion of neurotransmitters, including adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and serotonin.[6] Other evidence indicate guanosine derivatives may interact with and boost the initial umami signal.[7]
Cells responding to umami taste stimuli do not possess typical synapses but instead secrete the neurotransmitter ATP in a mechanism exciting sensory fibers that convey taste signals to the brain. These taste receptors are located everywhere on the tongue.[citation needed]
In monkey studies, most umami signals from taste buds excite neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex of the brain, showing spatially-specific characteristics:[8]
- There is a cortical map representation for the taste of glutamate separate from that of other taste stimuli like sweet (glucose), salt (sodium chloride), bitter (quinine), and sour (hydrochloric acid)
- Single neurons having vigorous responses to sodium glutamate also respond to glutamic acid
- Some neurons display a mechanism of satiety, indicating a process by which taste receptors in the mouth may interact with cortical neurons to curtail eating
- Umami flavor is strongest when combined with aromas (e.g., monosodium glutamate and garlic), a result leading to speculation that glutamate may stimulate umami effects by acting simultaneously with the aromas, texture, and appearance of food.
[edit] See also
- ^ Sherry Seethaler, "UCSD-led Team Discovers How We Detect Sour Taste", University of California, San Diego, August 23, 2006.
- ^ Moskin, Julia (2008-03-05). "Yes, MSG, the Secret Behind the Savor", New York Times. Retrieved on 9 August 2008.
- ^ Ikeda, Kikunae (1909). "New Seasonings[japan.]". Journal of the Chemical Society of Tokyo 30: 820–836.
- ^ Ikeda, Kikunae (2002). "New Seasonings" (PDF). Chemical Senses 27 (9): 847–849. doi:10.1093/chemse/27.9.847. PMID 12438213, http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/27/9/847. Retrieved on 30 December 2007.
- ^ Nelson G, Chandrashekar J, Hoon MA, et al (2002). "An amino-acid taste receptor". Nature 416 (6877): 199–202. doi:10.1038/nature726. PMID 11894099.
- ^ Roper, SD (2007 Aug), "[1] Signal transduction and information processing in mammalian taste buds]", Pflugers Arch 454 (5): 759-76, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17468883]
- ^ Daniels, S (February 18, 2008), "Scientists develop new umami taste enhancers", FoodNavigator.com-Europe, http://foodnfoodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?id=83328-umami-msg-gmp
- ^ Rolls, ET (2000 Apr), "The representation of umami taste in the taste cortex", J Nutr 130 (4S Suppl): 960S-5S, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10736361
[edit] References
- Flavor Chemistry: Thirty Years of Progress By Roy Teranishi, Emily L. Wick, Irwin Hornstein; Article: Umami and Food Palatability, by Shizuko Yamaguchi and Kumiko Ninomiya. ISBN 0306461994
[edit] External links
- Trade Group Website
- Discovery of Umami
- Discovery of Umami Receptors
- Society for Research on Umami Taste
- "Who's umami? Human taste now comes in five flavours", CBC News, June 1, 2007
- "Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter… and Umami" NPR, November 1, 2007
- A New Taste Sensation, by Katy McLaughlin, Wall Street Journal, 12/8/07.
- Mouthfuls : huitlacoche is another beispiel, 24/7/08.
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