Umami

[FoodZealot]

Mr. McGee, thank you for participating in this Q&A.

I'm curious about your take on umami in general, any new developments in the area, and how these developments might be applied by cooks. Would you know of an information source of the amounts of measured glutamates in various foodstuffs?

Thanks again.

~Tad

edit: to make clear

Edited November 10, 2004 by FoodZealot (log)

[Harold McGee]

One recent finding of interest is this: the receptors on our tongue that detect the presence of glutamate and other savory molecules are a variant on the receptors that detect the presence of sugars. This makes me wonder whether our taste sensations are as discrete as we usually think about them, whether maybe there is overlap or complementarity among some of them. I’m not sure there would be any practical significance to that, since most of our dishes are already pretty complex mixtures, but it might help us understand some details of that complexity.

I don’t know of a good print source for glutamate levels, but you can find lists on the web via google.