John Myers
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Make umami spice yourself – this is how it works
The umami spice mixture is very easy to make, so you don’t have to do without the hearty umami taste when cooking without meat. How to proceed:
- Gather the following ingredients: 25 grams of dried mushrooms (shiitake mushrooms work best), 25 grams of yeast flakes (or vegan parmesan), 25 grams of dried tomatoes without oil
- Put all ingredients in a blender. Mix everything until a fine powder is formed. In order to achieve better consistency of the powder, you should scrape the edge of the blender in between, as there are often large pieces of the ingredients there.
- Then pour the spice mixture into an airtight jar. The finished umami spice keeps for a few months and can be used in a variety of ways in the kitchen.
What does umami actually mean?
Umami is the savory, spicy flavor found in many meat dishes. But plant foods such as mushrooms, tomatoes, or algae also contain the taste.
- The term umami comes from the Japanese and is derived from the word “umami”, which means something like “tasty” or “spicy”.
- The derivation can be traced back to a Japanese chemist who, in addition to the conventional four tastes (salty, sour, sweet, and bitter), discovered the fifth taste “hot”.
- Although “spicy” is not a real taste, a pain stimulus in the mouth, it is perceived by many as tasty and can be found in many dishes.
- The tongue’s taste receptors absorb the salts of glutamic acid, which is mainly found in meat dishes and dairy products as well as in fermented foods. Humans are already confronted with the taste of umami through breast milk and that is why they find it so fascinating.
