70715
According to my dictionary, the word umami can be used to mean (as it has come
to mean in English) the particular savoury category of taste associated with,
for example, ramen, but it can also be used just to mean a 'good' taste or
flavour. Can anybody confirm if this second meaning is correct usage? If so,
how are you meant to distinguish between the two meanings?

For instance, in the sentence:

> だしとは、素材のうま味、香りを、水または湯に出したもので、その素材の味が凝縮されたものです。

Is it specifically 'savoury-ness' which is extracted as dashi, or simply 'good
flavour'? Or is it ambiguous?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-10T11:33:28.297
70711
2019-09-10T13:11:32.417
2019-09-10T12:51:41.167
22352
9879
question
meaning food
How to distinguish between different meanings of 'うま味'?
I do not use うま味 for describing the taste of tasting dessert cakes. うま味 is
basically used when you are eating [claypot
cooking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_pot_cooking#Ethiopia) called
[土鍋{どなべ}](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donabe) in Japan such as
[湯豆腐{ゆどうふ}](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B9%AF%E8%B1%86%E8%85%90).

It is believed to using the same 土鍋{どなべ} for long years, you can get good うま味
from the pot itself without adding umami ingredients a lot. Thanks to long
years cooking [鍋物{なべもの}](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabemono), the taste of
soup has immersed into the 土鍋{どなべ}.

I will consult with the scientific definition of
"[umami](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami)" in wikipedia.

**_Umami represents the taste of the amino acid L-glutamate and
5’-ribonucleotides such as guanosine monophosphate (GMP) and inosine
monophosphate (IMP). It can be described as a pleasant "brothy" or "meaty"
taste with a long-lasting, mouthwatering and coating sensation over the
tongue._**

## Foods rich in umami components

**_Generally, umami taste is common to foods that contain high levels of
L-glutamate, IMP and GMP, most notably in fish, shellfish, cured meats, meat
extracts, mushrooms, vegetables (e.g., ripe tomatoes, Chinese cabbage,
spinach, celery, etc.) or green tea, hydrolysed vegetable protein, and
fermented and aged products involving bacterial or yeast cultures, such as
cheeses, shrimp pastes, fish sauce, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and yeast
extracts such as Vegemite and Marmite_**

I remember not so many people like this tatse when I was tasting Vegimite and
Marmite in Australia. Probably the taste has still not widely accepted
somewhere.

In a metaphorical sense, you can use "うま味" for describing the profit from the
business.

> うま味のある商売 : The business with good profit.

I think this is close to the "good flavour".
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-10T13:11:32.417
70715
2019-09-10T13:11:32.417
34735
70711
answer