Salt tastes salty.
Sugar tastes sweet.
Chili tastes hot/spicy.
MSG tastes.........?
English students asked me this question when we were making papaya salad. In Khmer there is a word for the taste of MSG, but I told them I didn't know a word in English, maybe we don't have one. They found it strange I didn't know the word. To help me remember it they got me to eat MSG straight out of the packet. Perhaps if I tasted it the word would come to me. No word came! They still kept asking me though.
2 comments:
maybe it has an almost metallic flavour ...but generally it is considered a flavour enhancer and it causes a lot of allergic reactions
Hi, funnily enough in English the word most often used to describe the flavour of MSG is a Japanese word - "umami"
Being a chemical glutamate I can't imagine MSG having much flavour on its own. Its is sometimes described, as part of a dish, as providing something like... a 'bigness' of flavour, an enhanced 'mouth-feel' or a 'savouriness' or 'meatiness'.
I have included links to articles from wiki, a food critic and a renown chef.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/03/umami-food-ingrediant-japan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2002/jul/13/fish.foodanddrink
hope this helps,
Stuart
Post a Comment