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‘Fifth Taste’ Umami Now Available In Tube Form at Grocery Stores

Umami, which is known as the fifth flavor, is hard to define. But now, you can find umami extract in a tube in English grocery stores—and in these six ingredients.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on February 13 2010

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You’ve probably heard of umami, the elusive “fifth taste” following in the heels of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. But unless you’re a world-renowned restaurant chef, you’d probably be at a loss to describe the flavor sensation, and may not even know if you’ve tasted it before.

But now, home cooks will finally be able to come up with their very own umami-flavored creations, thanks to the new “Taste No 5” purée developed by a chef named Laura Santtini. The paste, which includes a mix of ingredients like anchovies and porcini mushrooms, will be available in tubes in more than 200 Waitrose and Booths grocery stores throughout England.

“Umami is part of our everyday eating lives,” Santtini told The Telegraph, “it is just that many of us don’t know what to call it. It is what gives depth of flavor to food. Every food culture has its umami-rich ingredients, whether it is seaweed in Japan or Parmesan in Italy.”

There’s no word yet on when the umami paste will be available in the United States, but if you’re outside of England and want to create recipes incorporating the so-called fifth taste, here are some ingredients to incorporate (though probably not all in the same dish, unless you’ve got a very tough stomach):

1. Tomato
2. Sauerkraut
3. Soy sauce
4. Miso paste
5. Parmesan cheese
6. Vegemite (an Australian yeast extract spread – definitely an acquired taste!)

For more tips on working umami into your meals, check out the Umami Information Center.

Filed under: General Interest, Science, Weird,

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