Umami Mamma - The Science Behind the Taste

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The science behind how things taste has been an organizing principle in my life. But i've never met any one as devoted to the of a single taste as kumiko ninmia. Umami is rich, it's deep and builds over time. In some ways, umami is taste of cooking itself. It's the taste of proteins blasted apart through heat or fermentation. And that the heart of umami is one of those protein pieces, glutomate.

For thousands of years, there have been four basic tastes recognized across cultures. But thanks to Kumiko Ninomiya (a.k.a. the Umami Mama), scientists finally accepted a fifth. So could there be even more?

This is the fourth episode of our six-part series, Making Sense.

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