I remember when Accent was first marketed...it as also that extra flavor that made every thing wonderful...
My mother had a shaker of it on the stove next to the salt and pepper......and I had lots of head aches as a teenager...until I went to college!
I won't be buying that tube of stuff...I think the best umami comes from a bunch or roasted bones simmered for hours.
Linda C

I wondered how long it would be before someone figured out how to market it.

None for me, thanks. I'd rather use the real ingredients that I can identify and name.

I don't know. I like the taste of my foods. And... do I really need a fifth taste? LOL I definitely won't be the first to try it. Give it a little time to see what people have to say, what problems may arise, and the price goes down :-o then I may consider.

Al

More info:

Americans are familiar with the four primary tastes we've known since childhood: sweet, salty, bitter and sour.

But the fifth taste -- the taste associated with savory things called umami -- has been less familiar. Umami is an earthy flavor foods get from amino acids in meats, some cheeses, fish and vegetables including mushrooms, ketchup, oysters, steak and sweet potatoes. It also gives food-additive MSG its allure.

Now home cooks in the U.K. looking to give their cuisine and umami kick can do it with the launch of a new food product called Taste No. 5, an umami-flavored paste, The Independent reported.

Two British supermarket chains -- Waitrose and Booths -- will both sell Taste No. 5, the first product marketed as an umami source, the paper reported.

Taste No. 5 was developed by Laura Santtini, who runs her family's Italian restaurant in London.

"I wanted to get away from the notion that umami is something of interest to scientists that no one else can really understand. The truth is that umami should be of interest to anyone who has a tongue," Santtini told The Independent.

"Umami is part of our everyday eating lives, it is just that many of us don't know what to call it. It is what gives depth of flavour to food. Every food culture has its umami-rich ingredients, whether it is seaweed in Japan or Parmesan in Italy."

Umami, named for the Japanese word for "taste" was first identified by Japanese scientists in 1908. In 2000, scientists at the University of Miami identified receptors on the tongue that suggest the body craves umami flavor because it indicates protein in meats and vegetables, the paper reported.

Other foods that have umami flavor include: anchovies, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce and Marmite.

I've had a jar of Vegemite sitting in my pantry for a couple of years--didn't know what to do with it. After reading about this 'umami' stuff (that I'd never heard of), I broke the Vegemite out and have been adding a dab to my chili and the turkey gumbo soup that I made today. It does seem to help round out the flavor and fill up the hollowness. And, it didn't make me unquenchabley thirsty like MSG laden food does.

Here is a link that might be useful: Umami In a Tube

I don't think you'll sell much of it in this forum, cilantro...most of us think real food, well prepared doesn't have need of flavor "enhancers."

Well,I'm not selling it, rachelllen. Merely bringing to the Cooking forum a food-related topic that I, mistakenly, thought might be of at least mild interest.

I share the real food philosophy but I readily admit to using flavor 'enhancers'. Like salt. Like Worcestershire. Like soy sauce and tomato paste...

And, frankly, I'm not sure exactly why your post rankled me, rachellen. Perhaps it could be that you drizzled a bit too much lemon juice into the dish?

cilantro, I think it's interesting and wonder if it was just a new way to package MSG. I don't have any headaches or other problems when I eat MSG but I don't buy it either because I don't feel that it improves my food.

Now I'm wondering what exactly is in it and how much it costs, if people are waiting "for the price to go down".

So it's "Accent" in a tube?

Annie

Many cooks must be searching for something to enhance the natural flavors of meat and poultry or brining them wouldn't be so popular.

I'd be interested to see exactly what these preparations are. Glutamic acid naturally occurs in foods like cheese and soy sauce and seaweed. (And you have a lot of it in your body right now, even if you have never ingested MSG--glutamate is made in the citric acid cycle of cellular metabolism, and without it, your brain wouldn't function too well; it's an important neurotransmitter). MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid.

I would imagine that a preparation based on foodstuffs, with all the flavor substances present, would be more interesting than straight MSG--in the same way that a rich Armagnac is far more interesting than grain alcohol. But if these preparations are just another way to market MSG, thanks but no thanks, I don't need it.

That is a great explanation, Arley! I did some Googling yesterday, trying to understand this subject, and ended up confused as I was when I started. I understand what you said so concisely. Thanks.

Jim

I thought that was interesting too. Something I didn't know.

Laura Santtini, who developed the purée  which includes pulped anchovy and porcini mushrooms  while she was running her family's Italian restaurant in Belgravia, said: "I wanted to get away from the notion that umami is something of interest to scientists that no one else can really understand. The truth is that umami should be of interest to anyone who has a tongue.

I've not found a complete ingred. list--just a reference here & there to some of the ingred. It appears to include a lot of ingred that are rich in glutamates. So, I'm tentatively surmising that it's not a lot different than the things that are normally in our tool chests--tubes of anchovy & tomato paste, Worcestershire, etc. Except that it's a blend of flavors. Haven't ever seen mushroom paste but maybe it's out there? And, I don't recall ever having eaten or tasted a porcini mushroom...

So far as I know, the umami product isn't even available in the US. And I wasn't particularly interested in buying it anyway. It was the whole concept of 'umami' that was new to me--or maybe not new, just that I didn't know that that 'mysterious something' had a name. That, and then I was curious about 'what's in it'.

And, gosh, thank you for letting me know that some of you found it interesting! I dragged the topic in here because I was interested in it & was hoping that others would lend some insight to this, to me, novel, topic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Better article here

Here's another article on taste that debunks the tastebud map theory, but supports the umami theory.

I don't think I'll buy umami in a tube, but I'm sure I get plenty of it when I eat Parmesan, tomatoes, seaweed (which I eat almost every day), porcini mushrooms, etc.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Lars

"And, gosh, thank you for letting me know that some of you found it interesting!"

It is VERY interesting. But can't we resolve that question about whether or not cumin tastes good? I'm losing sleep over that.

(Duane, where are you? Pease help me. I'm stuck in a muddle of sarcasm and can't express myself,)

Jim

I saw an article about it on english TV this week. I think it's made with the ingredients listed above and olives, tomatoes etc. It's apparently very tasty as an additive to home-made mayonnaise, pizza sauce, just about anything where you might add a squirt of tomato concentrate. I don't think there's anything nasty in it. BUT, I haven't seen a tube in the flesh, so as to speak.

I have been caught in my kitchen sucking dry the remainder in the packets of TJs beef broth....can't get enough of that 'umami' hydrolized veggie protein....what can I say, busted!

cilantro, I apologize if I came off sounding 'tart', it was not my intention. :D

Taste buds, just like vision, there are people with different degrees of color sensitivities and blindness, we all have different reactions to tastes.

dcarch