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

dcarch and johnliu - you know, you two folks were the first ones I thought of when I decided to post this. I was hoping you both would enjoy the read! dcarch, if I composed food as beautiful as yours, I probably wouldn't be dining out so much - LOL! And of course, I am sooooooooo envious of John's pro-style range :))

I bought some garlic from WGG last year, they have very reasonable prices and good quality. I have been waiting impatiently for a few months to see when they will start taking orders for this year! dcarch: I would suggest using an Asiatic variety such as Korean Mountain or Asian Tempest for making black garlic. The Asiatic varieties are generally short storing which is probably why the black garlic curing/aging process was invented in the first place. A Turban variety might make a good substitute if you can't find any Asiatics.

From wisegeek: Umami is a distinct, difficult to describe flavor caused by the interaction of glutamates, a naturally occurring amino acid, with receptors on the tongue. Some people call umami âÂÂthe fifth taste,â as it is distinctly not sweet, sour, hot, or salty. In addition to having a unique standalone flavor, umami appears to enhance foods it is combined with, making other flavors richer and more intense. The concept of umami is ancient, although the official term is relatively recent. Every time someone puts ketchup on fries, they are using the principle of umami. Both potatoes and tomatoes have high amounts of free glutamates, which interact with each other to create a distinctive flavor. Other foods with an abundance of free glutamates include seafood, shiitake mushrooms, meats, carrots, and seaweed, among many others. Many of these foods have been traditionally paired to enhance their natural umami flavor. The discovery of umami is credited to Kikunae Ikeda, a researcher at Tokyo Imperial University. Ikeda was researching the unique flavor of seaweed broth when he isolated a distinctive compound which he identified as umami, or savory, since it did not fit with the other four identified tastes. Ultimately, he managed to separate a unique white powder with a crystalline structure, which came to be known as Monosodium Glutamate, or MSG. Ikeda's discovery paved the way to many developments in food science, and to a restructuring in the way people though about taste. In addition to modern day examples of umami, the flavor has also been harnessed historically. It appears in high concentration in cured and fermented foods, such as the Roman garum and an assortment of traditionally fermented Asian sauces such as soy sauce and fish sauce. Umami has classically been used as a condiment, to enhance the flavor in other foods, bringing out their natural umami. Related topics Umami List of Foods with Iron Umami Receptors Diabetic Foods Low Fat Foods Umami Taste Receptor Health Foods There has been some controversy over umami. Some people believe that it is not, in fact, a distinct flavor, and wish that it was not classified as the fifth taste. Others have historically had concerns about glutamates, MSG in particular, claiming that the compounds have deleterious health effects. Especially in the West, the concept of umami was not as readily adopted as it was in Asia, as is reflected by the lack of an English word for the taste. However, Western chefs have slowly embraced the concept, designing dishes which harness the power of umami, whether it is truly a distinct taste or simply a subset of another.