Seaweed is high in umami. In fact, the term umami was coined by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908, as he was researching the flavor of the seaweed stock. Photograph from Robyn Lee on Flickr By now, any food-lover with his or her salt knows about umami, the "fifth flavor" (in addition to sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, and sourness). But I don't know if I've ever seen this bit of info about it. From the Guardian: Part of the reason why the palate responds so favourably towards glutamate could be our early exposure to it—breast milk has very high levels, 10 times higher than cow's milk. However, as with all good tastes, umami guides our appetites towards foods with optimum nutrition....
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