I dropped into Peacock the other week to check out their range of imported Waitrose goods. I cast my eye over the jams and teas, the mustard and the sardines. I inspected the Duchy Organic shortbread. And I contemplated the cans of mushrooms, artichoke hearts and baked beans.
And then I spotted something out of the corner of my eye...
...something that demanded much closer scrutiny.
Umami Paste. In a tube. Obviously I had to snap it up with no further delay. After all, how could I have survived all these years here in Japan without it?
"The ultimate scratch cooking tool to enhance any savoury dish" it says on the gleaming silver tube. So what's in it? Well, all the usual suspects when it comes to glutamate-rich foods. These are the ingredients (as listed on the box):
Tomato Puree, Garlic, Anchovy Paste (Anchovies, Salt, Sunflower Oil), Black Olive, Balsamic Vinegar, Porcini Mushrooms, Parmesan Cheese, Olive Oil, Vinegar, Sugar, Salt.
And this is what it looks like out of the tube: a thick redddish-brown paste much the colour and consistency of miso. it doesn't look particularly appetizing, but it certainly has a powerful zing on the palate.
I tried it on its own, on bread; I tried putting it in some pasta sauce; and I tried it on tofu even. And there's no denying it does what it says on the packet: it gives whatever you're eating a bit more savour.
Would I buy it again? I probably won't even finish up the tube I've got. It will sit in the fridge door while I continue to reach for the shoyu, shotsuru and miso, my dashi-kombu and katsuobushi.
Coals to Newcastle. Sand to the desert. Snow to the Antarctic. Umami Paste to the land of Ajinomoto.
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