Umami and monosodium glutamate
Umami y glutamato monosódico
- Date
- 1908 · confidence high
- Place
- Imperial University, Tokyo, Japan
- Credited to
- Ikeda Kikunae
- People
- 👤 Kikunae Ikeda1864–1936
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Ikeda isolated glutamic acid from kombu seaweed broth and proposed a fifth basic taste, umami. He patented monosodium glutamate, marketed from 1909 as Ajinomoto.
Umami was not widely accepted in the West until the discovery of its taste receptors.
What it led to
- the fifth basic taste recognised by physiology (receptors, 2000)
- the flavour-enhancer industry