"umami" news and stories

Before we even had a chance to figure out the sound of one hand clapping, the Japanese have given us a riddle of a different sort: kokumi. Think of it like this: when is a flavor not a flavor? When it's kokumi! Confused? Apparently, so are a lot of food journalists who got all excited when Japanese researchers announced that they had discovered a whole new taste to add to the five we already know -- except, wait a minute, kokumi has no taste. Huh?

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter-those are pretty self-explanatory. Then there's umami, also identified by the Japanese and now commonly accepted as the "fifth" basic taste. It roughly translates to "savory." (According to the Food & Think blog at Smithsonian.com, it more accurately translates to "yummy," but that's not very helpful for explaining things.)

Now here comes kokumi. Unlike sugar, which of course tastes sweet, or salt, which (duh) tastes salty, the compounds in food that relate to kokumi don't have an identifiable taste in and of themselves. Instead, they appear to heighten the sensation of other flavors by activating calcium receptors on the tongue, making salty foods taste even saltier, for example, or savory foods taste more savory.

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.

It took a transpacific flight, but finally last night, "The Next Iron Chef" deviated from its status as a "Top Chef" also-ran and finally started getting ... weird. Or maybe it was just the goofy opening montage of our four remaining cheftestants standing in the busy rain-slicked streets of Tokyo, crossing their arms in slo-mo and acting all alpha-dog dominant.

In any event, the show is finally getting down to its high-stakes, high-drama Japanese roots after an extended period of trumped-up, low-stakes challenges in Los Angeles. Our trio of alternately grumpy and spunky judges have come along for the ride, and eyebrow-cocking "Chairman" Marc Dacascos is no longer beamed in via satellite to bark oblique commands to the chefs -- now he can do so in person!

This week's mission was the pursuit of umami, the Japanese concept of a so-called fifth flavor -- something beyond savory -- that seems to be everywhere these days. The word was mentioned about a zillion times in the course of last night's episode, and -- surprise! -- it just happens to be the current marketing catchphrase of "TNIC" sponsor Kikkoman, whose umpteen varieties of soy sauce were littered around the challenge kitchen. The umami theme also allowed host Alton Brown a moment to do what he does best: Explain all the geeky details of how soy sauce is made.

That food chemistry lesson out of the way, it was up to our remaining pro chefs to get down to the flavor at hand, a challenge made all the more confusing in the Hattori Nutrition College kitchen, replete with weird can openers, stoves operating in celcius and ice cream makers that seemed to deep-freeze their wares to a glacier-like consistency. Asked to fill five spots of a bento box each with a different rice-based dish, the foursome didn't need to engage in the usual reality-show sabotage -- the people who arranged the kitchen seemed to do that for them.

Okanagan wine grapes. Photo: iwona_kellie, Flickr

• Mark McEwan goes against the grain with his new, huge luxury food market in North Toronto, reorganizing classic layouts and ignoring economic concerns.
• Le Migneron Charlevoix cheese is a classic Quebec fromage that offers "a creamy, umami fullness."
• The Globe and Mail's Chris Johns and Alexandra Gill write about the pros and cons of now defunct Gourmet magazine.
• Okanagan Valley was busy with vino harvest time over Canadian Thanksgiving, and wine writer Beppi Crosariol joined in on the action.
• Sisters Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat didn't let a no from the publishing house stop them: They self-published their new book "Bite Me" and got the attention of book giant Indigo.

When making a beef or vegetarian soup and stew, there are some main ingredients that can create a meaty taste while stimulating the tongue's taste receptors.