Science and flavor
Umami
JA: うま味(うまみ)
The fifth basic taste — savory, brothy, mouth-coating — driven primarily by glutamate.
What it means in a kitchen
Identified by Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 in kombu dashi, umami is now widely recognized alongside sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Foods rich in free glutamate (parmesan, soy sauce, ripe tomatoes, mushrooms, dried fish) read as deeply savory; combinations of glutamate with nucleotides (inosinate from bonito, guanylate from dried mushrooms) multiply the effect.