umami
3 synonyms for umami, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The savoury, meaty, mouth-filling taste found in foods such as parmesan, soy sauce, mushrooms, anchovies and ripe tomatoes, recognised as one of the basic tastes alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
How to use umami
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
umami bomb
rich in umami
umami flavour
savoury umami depth
Now fully naturalised in English food writing and everyday cooking talk.
Etymology
From Japanese umami, from umai 'delicious' and mi 'taste'.
Full origin of umami →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between umami and salty?
Salty comes from sodium and hits the tongue sharply and immediately. Umami comes mainly from glutamates and certain nucleotides, and gives a rounder, longer-lasting, mouth-coating savouriness. A dish can be very umami and barely salty, as an unsalted mushroom stock shows.
What foods are highest in umami?
Aged and fermented things top the list: parmesan and other hard cheeses, soy sauce, fish sauce, miso, cured ham, dried shiitake, kombu seaweed, anchovies, Marmite and cooked tomatoes. Combining two sources, such as kombu and dried bonito in dashi, multiplies the effect.
Is umami the same as MSG?
Not quite. MSG, monosodium glutamate, is one purified source of the glutamate that produces the umami taste, but the taste itself occurs naturally in a huge range of foods. Umami is the sensation; MSG is one ingredient that delivers it.
