Umami

[HeyWayne]

No, nothing to do with Vic Reeves.

Ever heard of it?

Was watching The One Show t'other night and they mentioned this "umami" as a recognised "taste" over and above the commonly known - sweet, sour, salty and bitter.

Basically it's flavour enhancers - the most commonly known being MSG.

It turns out we (LadyWayne and I) have been "adding" Umami for ages.

We add Marmite to cheese on toast, Hendersons Relish (or Worcestershire Sauce) to meat dishes, Parmesan Cheese to Risottos and so on, and so on.

Umami. Uvavooo.

[Glutton4...]

It was mentioned on the 'Great Food Fight' quiz prog t'other day!

[HeyWayne]

It was mentioned on the 'Great Food Fight' quiz prog t'other day!

Watched the first one of those, but that Sue woman is only tolerable in small doses.

[ginger ninger]

Guilty, I do it all the time, didn't know it had a posh name though

[Rhona]

I've heard of umami - it is the most recently recognised 'fifth' taste sensation. It's a Japanese word - lots of traditionally Japanese ingredients are umami - different types of seaweed, bonito flakes, soy, shellfish, some mushrooms...think of miso soup - that sums umami up for me.

'sums umami up.' Nope. Can't say it quickly.

[HeyWayne]

Not to be confused with T'sumami, which is the northern version and can be devastating.

[OllieMartin]

"Umami indeeeed!"

[pdblake]

I heard this on QI. Phil Jupitus described it as nice, ohh nice, and ooooh mammy!

[HeyWayne]

On T'One Show, the dude carried out a blind test.

Made two lots of cheese on toast. Spread a thin layer of Marmite (other yeast extracts are available) under one lot, and nothing under the other.

I think the results were unanimously in favour of the Marmite-d batch as the tastiest lot.

I'd have to agree, but would be far more generous with the Marmite.

[Florence Fennel]

So Wayne, I'm about 20 minutes walk away from the factory, but where do you get your Henderson's Relish from? Surely they don't stock it in your part of the world?

[HeyWayne]

So Wayne, I'm about 20 minutes walk away from the factory, but where do you get your Henderson's Relish from? Surely they don't stock it in your part of the world?

No, but you can buy it online apparently.

My in-laws keep us well stocked (they live in Sheffield). I even had some when they did it in the United colours way back when.

[Rhona]

I'd have to agree, but would be far more generous with the Marmite.

I agree... I'm always vaguely distrustful of people who only like a teeny tiny thin scraping of marmite. You've got to commit to it.

Florence Fennel, I also used to live about 20 minutes walk away from Hendersons, somewhat further now.

[Florence Fennel]

I'll tell my sister who lives darn sarf Wayne - she always takes a crate of it back from here when she visits. That's a coincidence Rhona - small world!

[HeyWayne]

LadyWayne's parents live 20 minutes from Rhona - perhaps everywhere in Sheffield is 20 minutes away...

[Florence Fennel]

And perhaps we're all distantly related. I'm twenty minutes away from lots of places Wayne.