Understanding umami: Japan's fifth taste and how to cook with it

Umami was identified as a distinct taste in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, a professor of chemistry at Tokyo Imperial University. Working with kombu seaweed, which Japanese cooks had known for centuries to produce a uniquely savoury depth in stocks, Ikeda isolated glutamate as the compound responsible. He coined the term umami from the Japanese words for delicious (umai) and taste (mi), and his discovery eventually changed how food scientists understood flavour entirely.

Understanding umami is practically useful. It explains why certain combinations of ingredients produce a result that seems disproportionate to their individual contributions.

What it actually tastes like

Umami is not a strong flavour on its own - it is a modifier. It amplifies and extends the other flavours in a dish, coating the tongue in a way that sweet, sour, salt and bitter do not. The sensation is often described as savoury depth, or as a quality that makes you want to keep eating. A miso soup that tastes far more complex than three ingredients warrant, a tomato sauce that seems to taste more intensely of tomato than the tomatoes alone would suggest - both are demonstrations of umami at work.

The three umami compounds and why combinations matter

Glutamates occur in kombu seaweed, aged cheeses, tomatoes, mushrooms and soy sauce. Inosinates are found in meat, fish and katsuobushi (dried bonito). Guanylates concentrate in dried shiitake mushrooms.

The critical insight is this: when glutamates and inosinates combine, the perceived umami is not additive but multiplicative - the flavour intensity increases many times beyond what either compound produces alone. This is the scientific explanation for why dashi made from both kombu (glutamates) and katsuobushi (inosinates) tastes so much more profound than either ingredient brewed separately. It is also why a vegetable soup often tastes thin and flat without a small amount of meat or fish stock - the missing inosinates leave the glutamates from the vegetables with nothing to amplify.

Building umami in daily cooking

Make dashi regularly. Keep dried kombu, katsuobushi and dried shiitake in the pantry - these three ingredients between them cover all three umami compound groups. Use miso paste as a seasoning in non-Japanese dishes as well as Japanese ones. Add a small amount of soy sauce to stews, roasted vegetables and sauces to increase depth without adding a soy flavour. Use our saucepans and ladles for broth work.

Explore umami-rich Japanese dishes: miso soup, ramen and shabu-shabu all showcase what happens when umami is properly understood and applied.

Read next

• How to make miso soup, the clearest practical demonstration of kombu and katsuobushi working together
• How to make ramen at home
• Shabu-shabu at home