UMAMI, KESAKO?
Well, that's a good question… We all know salty, sweet, sour and bitter , which are the 4 basic tastes experienced when tasting a dish.
But in addition to them, there is a small fifth , umami , literally meaning " savory taste ". We find it in particular in Japanese and more widely Asian cuisine. The first to have identified it was Professor Kikunae Ikeda at the beginning of the 20th century.
Ok, we got the idea. But in real life, where is umami found ? Certain foods are reputed to be sources of umami, such as powerful and well-matured cheeses such as parmesan, cheddar or stilton, shellfish, smoked meat, anchovies, black truffles or even ripe tomatoes...
But the real star of the umami flavor are the Japanese ingredients such as dried bonito, wakame seaweed, kombu, dulse, nuoc-mâm, green tea... So obviously at FURIFURI, that really speaks to us because our furikake are made from sesame seeds and… seaweed, which provide an umami flavor.
In the mouth, it is not easy to detect because we have always been used to our 4 basic tastes. And above all, it's more of an "aftertaste", both enveloping and sweet, which causes salivation. This delicious length in the mouth that makes you want to dip your spoon back!
Umami is therefore an enhancer of the other tastes of a dish. So do not hesitate any longer and make your life furikakez by sprinkling our tasty and very low salt condiment on all your favorite recipes!
Written by Leslie Gogois