鲜味的魔力

How would you describe the taste of amushroom？ Is it sweet？ Sour？ Salty？ Maybebitter？ Or maybe it’s something else—umami.

Umami has been called the “fifthtaste”， a savory2 or meaty3 flavor that is notsweet， sour， salty or bitter.

It was first identified by Kikunae Ikeda，a chemistry professor in Japan. He noticedthat seaweed broth4—a common part ofJapanese cuisine—didn’t really have aflavor that could be described using the fourknown types of taste.

He began studying the composition ofthis broth， and in 1908 identified the aminoacid glutamate5 as the compound6responsible for its flavor.

At first he produced glutamate crystals，and then， by combining glutamate withsodium7， he developed a way to massproduce the flavor as monosodiumglutamate8， or MSG.

In 1909， a company called Ajinomotowas created to produce and sell MSG.

Ikeda called his newly identifiedflavor“umami”until he could think of abetter name. But it seems he never did.

The existence of a fifth taste wasnot really accepted at first—in partbecause umami is a mild taste， andoften accompanied by salty or sourflavors， such as in steak or tomatoes.

In fact， it took almost a century forIkeda’s discovery to be validated9. In2000， umami receptors10 were found inthe brain， and in 2002， they were foundon the tongue.

There’s a synergy11 between thedifferent sources of umami， which iswhy the combination of seaweed anddried fish helps make the broth taste sogood， or why carrots and onions helpbring out the flavor of beef.

你会如何描述蘑菇的味道？甜的？酸的？咸的？也许苦的？或者也许是别的———鲜的。

鲜味被称为“第五味”，是一种不甜、不酸、不咸、不苦的可口味道或像肉的味道。

它最初是由日本的化学教授池田菊苗发现的。他注意到，日本料理中常见的海带汤的味道并不能用已知的四种味道来描述。

他开始研究这种海带汤的成分，并于1908 年确定谷氨酸是该味道对应的化合物。

起初，他生产谷氨酸晶体，然后，通过将谷氨酸与钠结合，他开发了一种大规模生产谷氨酸钠（味精）的方法。

1909 年，一家名为味之素的公司成立，生产和销售味精。

池田把他新发现的味道称为“鲜味”，直到他能想出一个更好的名字。但他似乎没能想出来。

第五种味道的存在起初并没有被真正接受，其部分原因是鲜味是一种温和的味道，通常伴随着咸味或酸味，比如牛排或西红柿中的味道。

事实上，池田的发现花了将近一个世纪才得到证实。2000年，人们发现了大脑中的鲜味受体，2002 年，人们发现了舌头上的鲜味受体。

不同的鲜味来源之间存在协同作用，这就是为什么海带和鱼干的结合有助于让汤变得那样鲜美，或者为什么胡萝卜和洋葱有助于展现牛肉的味道的原因。