On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:18:08 -0800, Dan Abel wrote:

> In article >,
> blake murphy > wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:48:38 -0800, Ranee at Arabian Knits wrote:
>>
>>> In article >,
>>> Doug Freyburger > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Sweet is also both a taste and an
>>>> item.
>>>
>>> Not quite. Table salt is NaCl. Sweet has quite a range from
>>> strawberries to ice cream to table sugar and more. You couldn't put
>>> together a tube of sweet any more than you could put together a tube of
>>> sour.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Ranee @ Arabian Knits
>>
>> some would say citric acid (a.k.a. sour salt) would be a stand-in for your
>> hypothetical sour paste.
>
> Pretty much any acid is sour. Vinegar is pretty common. Some people
> keep a bottle of vinegar on the table to add some "sour" to taste, just
> like many people keep a bowl of sugar on the table to add to coffee,
> tea, cereal or whatever. Many people keep a bottle of ketchup on the
> table, too. That has a lot of sugar and some vinegar, so it is a sweet
> and sour condiment. I'm confused about this Umami paste. A scientist
> in Japan already isolated a primary Umami flavor, know as monosodium
> glutamate, or MSG. This process of extraction was patented in 1909:

i have no idea of the cost of the umami paste, but i'd guess anchovy paste
is cheaper and give much the same effect. or the powdered m.s.g.

your pal,
blake