Oooo, Mommy!

Hahaha, that's what I think the name of a blog ought to be for some savory food obsessed mother! Get it, UMAMI? Umami is that mysterious savory/meaty flavor that until recently has been given little cred in comparison to their more known cousins: sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

Commonly known umami flavor can be found in mushrooms, fish sauce and only recently did I learn: tomatoes!

Interestingly enough, you can get an exceptionally savory tomato sauce when you leave the seeds/pulp around the seeds in the sauce because that is where tomatoes have their highest level of glutamic acid.

Frankly, I've always been too lazy anyway to excise the core and/or remove the tomato pulp, so I guess my taste buds secretly knew this deliciousness.

Apparently a chef, a curious and rebellious sort wanted to challenge the tomato coring thing and upon experimentation he found that the tomato was tastier with the pulp and with some food scientists/chemists they tested the glutamic acid content between regular tomato flesh and pulp and that settled it.

Supposedly the higher concentration of glutamic acid in the pulpy areas around the seeds is like the seed embroyo's placental sac and has a high amount of amino acids and nutrients. Mmm'mmm, placenta! (on a semi-related note, some cultures suggest that women eat the placenta after they birth their child. Regulates hormones and stuff.. or something... If anything, soem eco-conscious women at least bury it, good for the earth and all that rot :)

Here are the juicy bits on the topic:
Secret of tasty tomatoes revealed
UMAMI Information Center - The umami of vegetables