‘Kokumi’ Can Boost Umami And Naturally Restrain Your Appetite

If you are into food, you probably have heard of the word “Umami”. It is the fifth taste after salty, sweet, bitter and sour.

Umami is ubiquitous and you can taste it in various savory foods, such as cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and dry-aged steak, not to mention many Japanese ingredients like dashi, miso and soy sauce.

Importantly, Umami is not just a source of deliciousness. It is also great for your health.

Umami is the taste of glutamate, an amino acid that is a building block of protein— a nutrient essential to survival. When you eat umami-rich food, your salvation increases along with your appetite. As a result, your gut releases plenty of digestive enzymes, breaks down and absorbs nutrients efficiently; then you get a feeling of satisfaction and fullness before you overeat.

Also, umami can reduce your salt consumption. According to a study, the addition of umami substances into food items reduced the salt intake of 21,805 adults by 12.8-22.3% without compromising the taste. Umami’s unique property to provide a high level of savory deliciousness seems to be the key to the impressive results.

Then, how can we maximize the effects of Umami?

Enter Kokumi, the sixth element of taste sensation.

What is Kokumi?

Unlike the other five tastes, Kokumi is not a taste.

Kokumi is an aggregate experience that comes from the tastes, scents, and textures of the food that you eat. Kokumi boosts the joy of eating with three dimensions in your mouth: complexity, mouthfulness and lingeringness, according to Hidetoshi Nishimura, professor of Food And Nutrition at Kagawa Nutrition University in Japan,

Complexity means the depth/layers of sensations; mouthfullness is the fully-coated feeling; lingeriness is the long-lasting sensation.

Imagine eating a piece of aged parmesan cheese, or a bowl of tonkotsu ramen. These three elements are definitely there along with the elevated level of umami. You won’t get the sensations from a light, clear soup.

When you eat a lot of Umami-rich food and the Umami receptors are fully utilized, the Kokumi receptors come in handy to boost the taste of Umami, according to Arielle Johnson, flavor scientist and the author of Flavorama: A Guide To Unlocking The Art And Science Of Flavor. In her lab settings, the kokumi receptors can make glutamate(umami)-water solutions taste around 50% more umami-intense.

Then, what foods are the best sources of Kokumi?

Kokumi comes from amino acid molecules called peptides, smaller versions of proteins. Look for foods where these proteins have had time to break down into smaller pieces through cooking like stewing as well as aging and fermentation.

Also, it is good to know what ingredients have more Kokumi potential. “Some good places to find Kokumi peptides include beef, chicken, foie gras, scallops, tomato juice, brewed alcohol like beer, soy sauce, garlic, onions, and long-aged cheeses like Gouda,” says Johnson.

Umami + Kokumi For Better Health

About 42% of Americans are obese whereas 8% of the Japanese are.

The Japanese diet is based on Umami and Kokumi-rich foods like kombu and bonito-based dashi stock. Long before the Umami and Kokumi substances were scientifically discovered in the 20th century, Japanese people already knew them. They have been using these concepts as adjectives for centuries. For example, when they taste something good, they say, “Umai!” or “Koku ga aru!”.

Highly processed foods are increasingly more common in the American diet. Unlike umami-rich foods, they do not offer satiety, which can lead to overeating. Ozempic may fix the problem but why not prevent it from happening?

“The most important thing you can learn to make your experience with food better—cooking, eating, professional, amateur, whatever—is learning how to notice and name what your senses of taste and smell are telling you,“ says Johnson who advises some of the top chefs, restaurants, and bars in the world, including Noma in Copenhagen.

You now know the two names: Umami and Kokumi.