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How a bowl of seaweed soup in 1908 brought us the (unfairly maligned) additive known as MSG
National Post ^ | January 9, 2014 | Natasha Gelling

Posted on 01/12/2014 2:21:14 PM PST by rickmichaels

In 1908, over a bowl of seaweed soup, Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda asked a question that would change the food industry forever: What gave dashi, a ubiquitous Japanese soup base, its meaty flavor?

In Japanese cuisine, dashi, a fermented base made from boiled seaweed and dried fish, was widely used by chefs to add extra oomph to meals — pairing well with other savory, but meatless foods such as vegetables and soy. For some reason that was generally accepted but inexplicable, dashi made these meatless foods meaty — and Ikeda was determined to find out why.

Ikeda was able to isolate the main substance of dashi — the seaweed Laminaria japonica. He then took the seaweed and ran it through a series of chemical experiments, using evaporation to isolate a specific compound within the seaweed. After days of evaporating and treating the seaweed, he saw the development of a crystalline form. When he tasted the crystals, he recognized the distinct savory taste that dashi lent to other foods, a taste that he deemed umami, from the Japanese umai (delicious). It was a breakthrough that challenged a cornerstone of culinary thinking: Instead of four tastes — sweet, salty, bitter and sour — there were now five. A new frontier of taste had been discovered, and Ikeda wasted no time monopolizing on his discovery.

(Excerpt) Read more at fullcomment.nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS: Food
KEYWORDS: aspartame; migraine; msg
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1 posted on 01/12/2014 2:21:14 PM PST by rickmichaels
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To: rickmichaels

Dashi does make everything taste wonderful.


2 posted on 01/12/2014 2:23:42 PM PST by struggle
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To: rickmichaels

Love seaweed. Hate MSG/Aspartame.


3 posted on 01/12/2014 2:31:09 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Aspartame gives me a headache and I have a friend that gets sick eating MSG.


4 posted on 01/12/2014 2:40:03 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: rickmichaels

I want umami!


5 posted on 01/12/2014 2:49:46 PM PST by PGR88
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To: DJ MacWoW

Aspartame gives me a headache too, and has a terrible metallic taste. If I accidentally take one sip.


6 posted on 01/12/2014 3:00:50 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: rickmichaels
My wife used to suffer from three-day migraines after eating MSG and any of the also know as: Autolyzed Yeast, Yeast Extract, and any hydrolyzed protein, etc.

It took me and my wife 14 years to figure out the cause and there are no other triggers.

Thankfully, we found a product she takes before eating and it breaks monosodium glutamate into two inert items before it gets into her blood stream. It costs less than 20 cents a tablet.
7 posted on 01/12/2014 3:04:35 PM PST by jps098
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To: nickcarraway

Hubby got sick at a friends anniversary party. He finally asked what the punch was. Hawaiin Punch with ginger ale. Hawaiin Punch has Aspartame.


8 posted on 01/12/2014 3:11:32 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: rickmichaels
MSG gives me atrial fibrillation. It was a little scary at first but then when the doctor told me it could cause me to have a stroke, it REALLY got scary.
9 posted on 01/12/2014 3:21:41 PM PST by Ditter
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To: rickmichaels

http://www.macheesmo.com/2012/01/what-is-umami/


10 posted on 01/12/2014 3:23:31 PM PST by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: jps098

What is the pill your wife takes?


11 posted on 01/12/2014 3:24:09 PM PST by Ditter
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To: rickmichaels

Here is “The Chef’s List” of the characteristics of food, combinations of which define the great recipes.

The five primary flavors are sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory(umami).

The six secondary flavors are spicy (piquance or pungency), fatty or oily, coolness (like minty, menthol or camphor), astringent (like alum or lemon), heartiness (like alcohol), and numbness (like nutmeg or clove).

A good argument can be made for fizzy (carbonated) and foamy, as if not as secondary flavors than perhaps tertiary ones, more oriented towards textures, like crunchy, chewy, crispy, crystalline, powdery, earthy, fishy, juicy, squashy, runny, solid, hard, soft, tough, soggy, firm, and creamy.

Finally there is the “mouth feel” subgroup.

Cohesiveness: Degree to which the sample deforms before rupturing
when biting with molars.

Density: Compactness of cross section of the sample after biting
completely through with the molars.

Dryness: Degree to which the sample feels dry in the mouth.

Fracturability: Force with which the sample crumbles, cracks or
shatters. Fracturability encompasses crumbliness, crispiness,
crunchiness and brittleness.

Graininess: Degree to which a sample contains small grainy particles.

Gumminess: Energy required to disintegrate a semi-solid food to a
state ready for swallowing.

Hardness: Force required to deform the product to given distance,
i.e., force to compress between molars, bite through with incisors,
compress between tongue and palate.

Heaviness: Weight of product perceived when first placed on tongue.

Moisture absorption: Amount of saliva absorbed by product.

Moisture release: Amount of wetness/juiciness released from sample.

Mouthcoating: Type and degree of coating in the mouth after
mastication (for example, fat/oil).

Roughness: Degree of abrasiveness of product’s surface perceived by
the tongue.

Slipperiness: Degree to which the product slides over the tongue.

Smoothness: Absence of any particles, lumps, bumps, etc., in the product.

Uniformity: Degree to which the sample is even throughout; homogeneity.

Uniformity of Bite: Evenness of force through bite.

Uniformity of Chew: Degree to which the chewing characteristics
of the product are even throughout mastication.

Viscosity: Force required to draw a liquid from a spoon over the tongue.

Wetness: Amount of moisture perceived on product’s surface.


12 posted on 01/12/2014 4:19:15 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (There Is Still A Very Hot War On Terror, Just Not On The MSM. Rantburg.com)
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To: rickmichaels

MSG is the devil’s work. That stuff puts me in the hospital with a severe migraine.


13 posted on 01/12/2014 4:28:39 PM PST by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: jps098

Please share. What is it?


14 posted on 01/12/2014 4:30:32 PM PST by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: nickcarraway

I heard that there is a gene carried by a very small percentage of the population that makes aspartame taste horrible. Makes sense; most of my friends cannot taste the difference between regular and diet pop but the diet pop makes me gag.


15 posted on 01/12/2014 5:03:46 PM PST by Squawk 8888 (I'd give up chocolate but I'm no quitter)
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To: jps098

Are you going to keep the name a secret?


16 posted on 01/12/2014 5:25:51 PM PST by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
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To: All

The name is “MSG Buster”.


17 posted on 01/12/2014 6:54:50 PM PST by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
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To: rickmichaels

I tolerate MSG in smaller doses but aspartame gives me major headaches with just a small amount and I get sick if I have a larger amount.

I also try to avoid MSG, soy - evil stuff - and sulfites. My mom is allergic to sulfites. There is something in Dr. Pepper that makes me sick but not sure what. Guess one of those 23 secret ingredients.

I always try to read labels and you can’t even trust something you have bought for years because they can change with no warning. I used to buy different brands of gum with no problem, then one time I got a massive sick headache and I looked and Wrigley had added aspartame to a non sugar free gum. Then I went and looked at some of the other gums and several had also added aspartame. So I basically stopped buying gum.


18 posted on 01/12/2014 7:46:21 PM PST by CARDINALRULES (Tough times never last -Tough people do. DK57 -- 6-22-02)
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To: B4Ranch

I googled:

“MSG Buster”

nada. zip. nothing.


19 posted on 01/12/2014 7:59:22 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: catnipman

http://www.uniquetraining.com/catalog/


20 posted on 01/12/2014 8:06:31 PM PST by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
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