What is umami?

The fifth taste explained, and how to cook with it. 

Have you ever wondered what gives meat its depth of flavour, or why a shaving of parmesan can bring a bowl of pasta to life? Well, those delicious flavours can be captured in one word: umami. Described as the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter, Umami is the flavour that cooks often describe as adding depth or richness to a dish, making it feel complete. 

Umami has been an instinctive part of cooking cultures around the world for centuries, even before it had a name. Fermenting foods, browning meats, slow-cooked stocks: all of these are, at their core, deliberate exercises in building umami. Understanding this flavour is key to harnessing its magic in your own cooking, so read on to discover more! 

What does umami mean? 

The word umami (oo-MAH-mee) is Japanese in origin and means ‘delicious savoury flavour’; a translation which leaves little room for interpretation. Initially identified by a Japanese chemist in 1908, it was formally recognised as the fifth basic taste in 1985, and in the decades since has become one of the most important concepts in modern cooking. 

What does umami taste like? 

Umami is best described as a deep, savoury flavour that lingers and makes everything around it taste richer. Think of it as the bass guitar in a rock band: whilst it may not be the first thing you notice, it makes everything around it feel… fuller. The umami taste doesn’t announce itself boldly, but instead works quietly in the background, adding roundness to a dish. You might also notice it increases saliva production, a sign that your taste buds are responding to glutamate, an amino acid behind the umami sensation. 

Some foods also contain compounds that amplify the umami taste. This is why pairing certain ingredients, like mushrooms and tomatoes or miso and seaweed, creates a flavour that’s greater than any single ingredient alone. This pairing is one of the most powerful and underused tools in a cook’s arsenal. Once you understand it, you’ll begin to see it everywhere in great cooking. 

What foods are high in umami? 

One of the best things about umami is how many common ingredients are naturally packed with it.  

Meat is one of the most significant and familiar sources of umami, which goes a long way to explain why a good steak or a slow-braised short rib tastes so delicious. Aged or slow-cooked meats develop even more umami character as proteins break down over time, which is also why a good bone broth or meat stock is so flavourful. Cured and aged meats go further still. Prosciutto, aged salami and bacon are all concentrated sources of umami, which is why browning bacon pieces before making a soup or stew adds so much flavour. 

For those cooking without meat, the good news is that many of the most umami-rich ingredients in existence are plant-based. Mushrooms, tomatoes, miso, soy sauce, garlic and seaweed can bring that same depth and richness, making umami an invaluable concept for vegetarian and vegan cooking. 

How to add umami to your cooking 

The most effective approach to adding umami to your cooking is layering. Combining multiple umami sources in a single dish creates exponentially more depth than using just one. Building a base of garlic and onion, adding a spoonful of miso or tomato paste, and finishing with parmesan cheese is one example of layering umami. 

Slow-cooked dishes are also natural umami magnifiers. As ingredients cook down over time, these umami-rich compounds concentrate, which is why a long-simmered soup, stew or gravy tastes so deeply satisfying. Adding your umami-rich ingredients early lets them build the flavour foundation that everything else sits on: steeping dried porcini mushrooms into your stock before cooking a risotto, adding diced bacon or pancetta to a soffritto for bolognese, or browning your meat before adding it in a sauce are examples of ways to make the finished result noticeably richer and more complex.  

That’s the magic of umami: it doesn’t taste like any individual ingredient. It just enhances the natural taste of a dish. 

Meet our new Umami Blend: Your new secret ingredient 

Our brand-new Umami Blend is the kind of ingredient you’ll want within arm's reach every time you cook. Featuring a base of naturally occurring umami flavours such as porcini and shiitake mushrooms, red miso, tomato and onion, its uses are endless and it will quickly become a firm favourite in your spice rack. 

Every ingredient in our Umami Blend is plant-based, which makes it particularly useful when cooking without meat. The combination of mushrooms, miso and tomato delivers a savoury depth that can otherwise be difficult to achieve in plant-based dishes, making it a genuine staple for vegetarian and vegan cooking. 

To incorporate our Umami Blend into your cooking, add 2–3 teaspoons after softening onions as the base of a soup or stew, use it like a stock cube for a rich flavour base, or add it to gravies and pan sauces for a big boost of flavour. However you cook, it has a way of making whatever is in the pan taste noticeably better. Try our Umami Blend in a Mushroom and Thyme Risotto, a Seared Chicken with Pan Sauce or this hearty Tuscan Winter Bean Stew for a great starting point on how to incorporate it into your home cooking. 

Once you've cooked with it, you'll wonder how you managed without it. Pick up a jar today!