Here is a list of umami-rich foods. As regular readers of this blog know, I believe we like umami flavor so that we will eat more bacteria-rich foods. In this list, notice that fresh foods tend to have much less umami than older foods. Cured ham (337 units) is much higher than pork (2.5). Cheese (182-1680) is much higher than milk (1-4). Soy sauce (412-1264) is aged; so is fish sauce (621-1383). Seaweed (kombu) is high (241-3190) but since seaweed is sold dried, I suspect the drying process is at least partly responsible for the high umami content. Marmite (1960) is not aged — but its main ingredient is yeast.
As far as I know, all meat sold commercially in America is aged: it doesn’t taste right until it’s aged. Umami is sometimes described as a “meaty” taste.
a few weeks ago i made miso soup with blue cheese and it was really tasty.
it’s very simple as all the ingredients dissolve in hot water. i made it in a cup.
You can get fresh seaweed in some Asian grocery stores. I don’t know whether the seaweed in the chart was fresh or dried.
And speaking of fermented foods, here’s an article about coffee beans that ferment in the stomachs of cat-like creatures called civets:
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/world/asia/18civetcoffee.html
These beans are very expensive and are said to “produce a brew described as smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste.”
What are the units, and how are they derived?
unit = milligrams of glutamate per 100 g