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Mushrooms, the Umami Experience

While few of us can define it, we’ve all had the "umami" experience. Umami is a taste sensation found in some foods. The Japanese, who define umami as "deliciousness," have long recognized it as a taste distinct from sweet, salty, bitter and sour--the fifth taste. It has been further described as imparting a "robust," "savory" and at times "meaty" flavor to dishes.

The umami sensation is difficult for most of us to get our taste buds around, perhaps because it is a multidimensional, subtle taste that blends so well with others. Until recently, Westerners have not recognized umami as a specific flavor, nor have we had the language to describe it.

What is it exactly that makes umami happen? Umami is both a basic taste and a flavor enhancer produced by the presence of a specific chemical compound--free glutamate. First isolated in Japan in 1908, glutamate is a form of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant amino acids in food. Glutamate is to umami what sodium chloride (table salt) is to saltiness. Recently, scientists have discovered tongue receptors that seem to react only to glutamates, which supports the case for making umami the fifth taste.

Glutamate is abundant in all mushrooms placing them high on the umami scale. The resulting "meaty" flavor offered by mushrooms, along with their distinctive texture, explains why they so successfully stand in for meat in vegetarian dishes. Other glutamate-rich foods include tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, soy sauce, bonito flakes and kelp.

The story of umami doesn’t end with glutamate. A group of compounds called ribonucleotides have been found to work synergistically with glutamate to heighten the "umami-ness" of foods. If you’ve noticed that mushrooms are the perfect partners for many kinds of meat, poultry and fish, it’s because the free glutamate in mushrooms’ complements certain ribonucleotides naturally occurring in protein foods. Scientists hypothesize that the ribonucleotides prime the glutamate receptor sites on the tongue to provide a more intense umami taste sensation.

Right now, the very latest umami news is that some mushrooms, especially shiitake, naturally contain both free glutamate and the ribonucleotide guanylate, in significant amounts, further amplifying the "meaty" umami sensation.