Umami, or the "fifth taste," describes foods with a particular savory deliciousness driven by our perception of certain amino acids. The science of umami is pretty fascinating, but it's the incomparable flavor of umami that drives us to seek it out for our culinary enjoyment.
Though we tend to associate umami with Japanese food, it's a flavor principle captured in nearly every cuisine. And the more we learn about umami, the more food producers capitalize on our craving for it. These foods reflect the growing umami food trend:
1. Taste No. 5 Umami Paste
Laura Santtini's Taste No. 5 Umami Paste combines umami-rich Mediterranean ingredients like tomato, porcini, Parmesan, olives, and anchovy paste. Designed as a multi-purpose flavor booster, it can be used as a condiment, whisked into dressings, swirled into soups, sauces, and risottos, tossed with pasta or grains, and more ($7, at Kalustyans.com).
2. Nori Snack Chips
Nori seaweed (familiar to many as the wrapper for maki sushi) is rich in the amino acids that create umami flavor. Thin toasted sheets, often flavored with other umami-rich ingredients, are turning up as bite-sized snacks. You'll find Yama Moto Yama's Teriyaki Seaweed Snack Chips ($3) at StashTea.com. AnnieChun.com offers Sesame and Wasabi Seaweed Snacks in little take-along pouches ($1.69).
3. Sweet Marguerites Umami Chocolates
Sweet Marguerites explores the nexus between sweet and umami with its Umami range of artisanal chocolates ($9, at SweetMarguerites.com). Flavors in the umami line include Malted Bacon, Plum Sake, Sweet Potato Caramel, Sesame-Tahini, and Green Tea & Ginger.
4. Garlic it! Private Reserve Caramelized Garlic Finish
The moment I tasted this product at the 2011 Summer Fancy Food Show, "UMAMI!!!!" was the first word that popped into my head. In fact, the intense savoriness of this caramelized garlic made me look around a room full of sofi Award finalists with new eyes, as I realized just how many of the products were umami-rich. As it turned out, this was a product that made voters take notice too — it beat out some amazing contenders to win the sofi Gold for Outstanding New Product. ($27.75/ 3 5.5-oz jars at GarlicIt.com.)