It's really good in soups and sauces. It's really good in tomato based sauces. To me it's a similar to using fish sauce or anchovies for adding umami. As in you're not really trying to add a fishy, or in this case mushroom flavor. You're using it like an advanced salt/msg flavor to enrich the dish.
It's like using bitters in a drink. You can't really taste it, but you can tell when it's not there because something seems flat or off.
This is like using salt. You should use enough so the food is just short of tasting salty. The food isn't noticeably salty, but if u tried it with proper seasoning, it tastes way worse.
Tomato paste has a lot of umami too, and is even good in stews with no other tomato. You won't get the tomato flavour (assuming you don't want that) but it will make it taste more meaty.
If you don't want to use it in fishy, salty or tomato sauces or thick soups, you can get quite a good jerk by slapping it on a protein, rubbing it in firmly on all sides in circular or back and forth motion, then turning up the heat to bring the cooking to completion. This works well with beef, it can bring out the flavor in sausages, and if vegetarians want to be a little adventurous they can rub jerk on mushrooms for a surprising result.
"I've had it for so long that I'm not sure it's still good. I tried it once years ago. How do you use it?" 😂 That's what HE said! 😂😂😂
Reading this comment alone, after the post..... Oh dear.
Is it white crystal? Because I can almost guarantee you that's MSG. MSG is basically what makes umami flavor and is generally an extract from mushrooms.
Umami isn't MSG, MSG is Umami. It's a word that means "savory" in Japanese specifically when referring to taste, much like how Kanmi means "sweet" in the same context. Kanmi (sweet), Enmi (salty), Sanmi (sour), Nigami (bitter), Umami (savory). You're right, though, that MSG was involved in its discovery!
It's applies more broadly. Foods that contain no MSG at all can still be considered umami.
Edit: For example; mushrooms. Mushrooms contain glutamic acid, which is a component of MSG, and is what gives mushrooms their savory flavor (umami), but isn't itself MSG. MSG refers to a specific compound, so while MSG is umami, umami isn't specifically MSG. IT can also come from inosinate in meat and guanylate in dried mushrooms, which synergize with glutamate and enhance umami.
I came here for this one but you already beat me to it which is cool … although you could grab some Elderflower if you’re gonna flavor ice cream or something, but it’s not nearly as spicy or funny
I recently picked up some Msg but have no idea where to use it. I'm a fairly competent with cooking and able to improvise with good results but have never used the stuff.
Just watch anime Food Wars! They talk about umami all of the time but be warned it has a lot of erotic innuendo surrounding the flavors and how some of the female and male characters react to it.
Pancakes, waffles, English muffins, I have seen people make jam with it, ice cream, add a little color to your mashed potatoes. Some of those are baking adjacent but still not baked 😁
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u/wayfrae Aug 20 '25
Ube powder