Umami Taste Components and Their Sources in Asian Foods

Abstract

Umami, the fifth basic taste, is the inimitable taste of Asian foods. Several traditional and locally prepared foods and condiments of Asia are rich in umami. In this part of world, umami is found in fermented animal-based products such as fermented and dried seafood, and plant-based products from beans and grains, dry and fresh mushrooms, and tea. In Southeast Asia, the most preferred seasonings containing umami are fish and seafood sauces, and also soybean sauces. In the East Asian region, soybean sauces are the main source of umami substance in the routine cooking. In Japan, the material used to obtain umami in dashi, the stock added to almost every Japanese soups and boiled dishes, is konbu or dried bonito. This review introduces foods and seasonings containing naturally high amount of umami substances of both animal and plant sources from different countries in Asia.

Comparison of proximate composition and sensory attributes of Clariid catfish species of Clarias gariepinus, Heterobranchus bidorsalis, and their hybrids

“…Umami is a relatively recent characteristic taste imparted by l-glutamate and 5`-ribonucleotide compounds such as inosinate and guanylate (Yamaguchi and Ninomiya 2000;Masic and Yeomans 2014), but importantly induced by the presence of monosodium glutamate (Yamamoto 2003;Meilgarrd et al 2007;Leong et al 2015). Glutamate is the most abundant amino acid present in many proteincontaining foods such as meat, sea food, and aged cheese (Mouritsen and Styrbaek 2014;Hajeb and Jinap 2015;Kurihara 2015;Leong et al 2015). Umami is expressed as increase in flavor characteristic, continuity, mouthfulness, impact, mildness, and thickness that gives enriching distinctive taste (Yamaguchi and Ninomiya 2000;Leong et al 2015).…”

“…). Glutamate is the most abundant amino acid present in many protein‐containing foods such as meat, sea food, and aged cheese (Mouritsen and Styrbaek ; Hajeb and Jinap ; Kurihara ; Leong et al. ).…”

Chemical composition and physical properties of salted shrimp paste (Kapi) produced in Thailand

“…The widespread consumption of fishery fermented products over a wide geographical area throughout Southeast Asia is due to the simplicity of the processing techniques and uniformity of the final fermented products (Hajeb and Jinap 2013). Those products impart delicacy and have high nutritional value (Faithong et al 2010).…”

Evaluation of Oolong Teas Using 1H and 13C Solid‐state NMR, Sensory Analysis, and Multivariate Statistics

“…33,34 The amino acids, particularly, theanin, is reported to exhibit a sweet taste. This disagreement suggests that carbohydrate is not the only source of sweetness of the tea.…”