Umami, Kelp and MSG

In the West we consider there to be four basic tastes: salty, sweet, bitter, and sour. However, in Japan a fifth taste is added – “umami”, which means tastiness or flavour or deliciousness. This is a very subtle concept but relates to how your mouth reacts to the taste and smell of a food: Basically, if the smell of a meal makes your mouth water it is high in the quality of umami. We often say, “Mm, that’s very tasty” without realizing fully what we mean by that – would you be able to say in words what you mean by “tasty”? Perhaps the French word “piquant” comes closest to this Japanese sense of umami. Piquant is defined in the Webster dictionary as: “agreeably stimulating to the palate”. Of course, it would be right that the French have such a word, being the great European connoisseurs of taste and cuisine!

There is however a scientific reasoning behind the Japanese taste of umami: the presence of certain glutamates, particularly monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium inosinate, and sodium guanylate. Monosodium glutamate or MSG has become the demon of Chinese takeaway and so much negative attention has been given in health books and articles about its negative side-affects. A quick perusal of the internet will bring up thousands of items that tell you MSG is a chemical additive that causes any number of illnesses from asthma to cancer to heart disease. However, it may surprise you to know that MSG is fact found naturally in many foods we consume everyday such as fresh tomato juice, parmesan cheese and green tea! It is one of the main reasons that these foods are so tasty.

The principle source of MSG naturally occurring in Japanese food is in konbu (kelp), about which there are hundreds of internet articles in English telling you how healthy this seaweed is, especially as a detox and immune booster! Konbu is used in the stock of most Buddhist vegetarian dishes and provides a delicate tastiness.

Dashi, the basic stock used for many Japanese dishes, including miso soup, is usually made using konbu and dried bonito fish flakes or tiny dried sardines. These fish contain sodium inosinate, which is one of the other glutamates listed above that contribute to umami, the tastiness factor. So in dashi, with the combination of konbu and dried fish, there is an eightfold enhancement of flavor – no wonder miso soup and other dishes made with dashi are so popular!

But what about the dashi stock made in Buddhist vegetarian cuisine? Instead of fish, we use dried shiitake mushrooms, which might seem at first as though we are missing out on some intense quality of flavour. However, dried shiitake mushrooms contain large quantities of sodium guanylate, the third of the glutamates listed above that naturally contribute to enhanced flavour. So the vegetarian versions of many popular dishes that are based on dashi stock also have an eightfold enhancement of flavour, and are just as tasty as their non-vegetarian counterparts.

So why are there so many concerns about artificial MSG? Well, precisely because it is artificial! It is chemically produced, not from kelp but from sugar beet or molasses with a bacterial fermentation process. However, as far as I have heard and read there are no negative side-effects reported of people consuming konbu and shiitake mushrooms (other than eating too much because it is so yummy!) So please enjoy the tastiness of your miso soup by making it yourself!