The Fifth Flavor/Elusive taste dimension can mean the difference between balance and blah. Chefs and scientists have recently realized that, in addition to sweet, sour, salty and bitter, there is an elusive fifth flavor, umami, whose taste receptors have recently been found. Umami is changing the way some of them approach food preparation. The quality of umami is apparently correlated with the amino acid L-glutamate; so the Asian cuisines are apparently really onto something when they add MSG (monosodium glutamate) to food.

Aging, curing and fermenting
enhance umami. So does ripeness. A
dry-aged steak has more umami than fresh
hamburger, to no one’s surprise. A ripe
nectarine has more measurable free
glutamates than an unripe one. And
two-year-old Parmigiano-Reggiano is
practically off the charts.

Other common foods high in umami include
anchovies, the fish sauce used in Southeast
Asian cooking (nam pla in Thai, nuoc mam
in Vietnamese) and other fermented fish
products, fresh tomatoes, grapefruit (it has
more free glutamates than other citrus),
soy sauce, dried seaweed, cooked
potatoes, green tea, Gruyere cheese and
fresh clams

[via Looka!, which just celebrated its year’s anniversary]