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 these, there is a little fifth , umami , literally meaning " savory taste ." We find it particularly in Japanese cuisine and more broadly in Asian cuisine. The first to have identified it was Professor Kikunae Ikeda at the beginning of the 20th century.

Okay, we get the idea. But where do you actually find umami ? Certain foods are known to be sources of umami, such as strong, well-aged cheeses like Parmesan, Cheddar, or Stilton, shellfish, smoked meat, anchovies, black truffles, or even ripe tomatoes…

But the real star of umami flavor is Japanese ingredients such as dried bonito, wakame seaweed, kombu, dulse, nuoc-mâm, green tea... So naturally at FURIFURI, that really speaks to us because our furikake are made from sesame seeds and... seaweed which precisely bring an umami flavor.

In the mouth, it's not easy to detect because we've always been accustomed to our 4 basic tastes. And above all, it's more of an "aftertaste," both enveloping and sweet, which provokes salivation. This delicious lingering taste makes you want to dip your spoon back in!

Umami is an enhancer of the other flavors in a dish. So go ahead and make your life more fun by sprinkling our flavorful, low-salt condiment over all your favorite recipes!

Written by Leslie Gogois