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Winona
Raw Newbie
What is a raw food giving us Umami flavor?
Umami is a proposed addition to the currently accepted four basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue.
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”.
Comments
seaweed and mushrooms!
Yes, mushroom is king of umami! Brothy, savory… hehe, “meaty?”.
I thought it was interesting that “spicy” is not a ‘taste’... Well, not one Charles Zucher (researcher on how we taste) mentioned.
very interesting article on Charles Zucher. I wonder why spicy isn’t a taste.
“Scientists used to think that every taste bud could pick up on all five tastes, and that a different signal would be sent to the brain for each one. Zuker’s lab did experiments with mice that proved that taste cells are simpler than that. Each taste cell has only receptors for one taste modality. And each cell sends a specific signal to the brain. This signal doesn’t change, even if you swap out one receptor for another. For example, you can remove the receptor from a “sweet” cell and replace it with a receptor that’s normally activated by a bitter chemical, and now “bitter” tastes sweet.
This research has obvious commercial implications—for example, what if we could find ways to reduce our “dependence” on sugar and salt, two key food ingredients that have a significant impact on our well-being?” From this website