this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
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Thank you! I was wondering how a Japanese word could be a basic flavor that we don't have defined, and why we wouldn't have a word for it. Savory is it. Cheers!
The reason why umami is the word is because the scientists studying the flavour were Japanese so that's what their paper used to name it. I think the term spread around in the food science world before actually making it down to the layman
Back in the very early 1900s, the Imperial Japanese University was trying to figure out what exactly the 'core' flavour of Dashi actually was, and how to make something that tastes only of that to serve as a building block (like how sugar is only sweet and citric acid is only sour). That flavour is umami, and that building block chemical is MSG. Kikunae Ikeda, the head researcher for the project, would then go on to found Ajinomoto using MSG as it's base product, which is now a massive food conglomerate in Japan. It's name is actually the Japanese word for MSG
MSG is Umami? I didn't know that. I've always simmered various ingredients like dried mushrooms to achieve that flavor.
Yup - and given Dashi can have mushroom in it, you're not too far off either recipe wise either