I finally got a tube of "Taste No 5 Umami Paste" from Waitrose (UK
supermarket).

Ingredients: "Tomato purée, garlic, anchovy paste (anchovies, salt,
sunflower oil), black olive, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms,
parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sugar salt" (i.e., no MSG as such
but plenty of natural sources of glutamates[1]); "Produced in Italy
for Easy Tasty Magic by Gia SPA".

So far I've only tried it thinly spread on buttered toast ---
delicious! (The box does mention "spread onto crostini, panini,
pizzas & sandwiches" in addition to using in sauces, soups, &c.)


[1]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...rink.features3


--
Unix is a user-friendly operating system. It's just very choosy about
its friends.

On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:17:10 +0000, Adam Funk >
wrote:

> I finally got a tube of "Taste No 5 Umami Paste" from Waitrose (UK
> supermarket).

How much did this set you back?
>
> Ingredients: "Tomato purée, garlic, anchovy paste (anchovies, salt,
> sunflower oil), black olive, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms,
> parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sugar salt" (i.e., no MSG as such
> but plenty of natural sources of glutamates[1]); "Produced in Italy
> for Easy Tasty Magic by Gia SPA".
>
It has to taste better than Marmite and Vegemite, but why call a
tomato based product Umami? Just shows what a fad umami is now to
quantify something like that.

> So far I've only tried it thinly spread on buttered toast ---
> delicious! (The box does mention "spread onto crostini, panini,
> pizzas & sandwiches" in addition to using in sauces, soups, &c.)

Worse things have been put on them.

--
http://picasaweb.google.com/sf.usenet

On Mar 18, 4:17 pm, Adam Funk > wrote:
> I finally got a tube of "Taste No 5 Umami Paste" from Waitrose (UK
> supermarket).
>
> Ingredients: "Tomato purée, garlic, anchovy paste (anchovies, salt,
> sunflower oil), black olive, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms,
> parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sugar salt" (i.e., no MSG as such
> but plenty of natural sources of glutamates[1]); "Produced in Italy
> for Easy Tasty Magic by Gia SPA".
>
> So far I've only tried it thinly spread on buttered toast ---
> delicious! (The box does mention "spread onto crostini, panini,
> pizzas & sandwiches" in addition to using in sauces, soups, &c.)
>
> [1]http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.featu....
>
> --
> Unix is a user-friendly operating system. It's just very choosy about
> its friends.

On Mar 18, 4:17 pm, Adam Funk > wrote:
> I finally got a tube of "Taste No 5 Umami Paste" from Waitrose (UK
> supermarket).
>
> Ingredients: "Tomato purée, garlic, anchovy paste (anchovies, salt,
> sunflower oil), black olive, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms,
> parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sugar salt" (i.e., no MSG as such
> but plenty of natural sources of glutamates[1]); "Produced in Italy
> for Easy Tasty Magic by Gia SPA".
>
> So far I've only tried it thinly spread on buttered toast ---
> delicious! (The box does mention "spread onto crostini, panini,
> pizzas & sandwiches" in addition to using in sauces, soups, &c.)
>
> [1]http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.featu....
>
> --
> Unix is a user-friendly operating system. It's just very choosy about
> its friends.

It doesn't sound horrible, and there is msg in a lot of that stuff,
but why not just sprinkle powder on your regular food? You probably
couldn't sneak it through airport security, but it would be handy to
have a tube in your sock, if you got stranded and had to eat the sock

On 2010-03-18, sf wrote:

> On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:17:10 +0000, Adam Funk >
> wrote:
>
>> I finally got a tube of "Taste No 5 Umami Paste" from Waitrose (UK
>> supermarket).
>
> How much did this set you back?

£2.99.

>> Ingredients: "Tomato purée, garlic, anchovy paste (anchovies, salt,
>> sunflower oil), black olive, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms,
>> parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sugar salt" (i.e., no MSG as such
>> but plenty of natural sources of glutamates[1]); "Produced in Italy
>> for Easy Tasty Magic by Gia SPA".
>>
> It has to taste better than Marmite and Vegemite, but why call a
> tomato based product Umami? Just shows what a fad umami is now to
> quantify something like that.

Probably. (ITYM "qualify".)


--
The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to
chance. [Robert R. Coveyou]

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:20:18 +0000, Adam Funk >
wrote:

> On 2010-03-18, sf wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:17:10 +0000, Adam Funk >
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I finally got a tube of "Taste No 5 Umami Paste" from Waitrose (UK
> >> supermarket).
> >
> > How much did this set you back?
>
> £2.99.

£2.99 = about $4.50 USD. Pricey!
>
> >> Ingredients: "Tomato purée, garlic, anchovy paste (anchovies, salt,
> >> sunflower oil), black olive, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms,
> >> parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sugar salt" (i.e., no MSG as such
> >> but plenty of natural sources of glutamates[1]); "Produced in Italy
> >> for Easy Tasty Magic by Gia SPA".
> >>
> > It has to taste better than Marmite and Vegemite, but why call a
> > tomato based product Umami? Just shows what a fad umami is now to
> > quantify something like that.
>
> Probably. (ITYM "qualify".)

I wrote what I meant to write: quantify. I should have added a couple
of extra words to the sentence. "It just shows what a fad umami is
now to quantify something like that" referring to the tomato based
product. IOW, the product sounds delicious but I object to the name.

--
http://picasaweb.google.com/sf.usenet

On 2010-03-19, sf wrote:

> On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:20:18 +0000, Adam Funk >
> wrote:
>
>> On 2010-03-18, sf wrote:
>>
>> > On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:17:10 +0000, Adam Funk >
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> I finally got a tube of "Taste No 5 Umami Paste" from Waitrose (UK
>> >> supermarket).
>> >
>> > How much did this set you back?
>>
>> £2.99.
>
> £2.99 = about $4.50 USD. Pricey!

Yes, but I had to try it at least once out of curiosity. In terms of
the sparse application it's not too bad (but pricier than the other
tasty spreads in tubes I've encountered).


>> >> Ingredients: "Tomato purée, garlic, anchovy paste (anchovies, salt,
>> >> sunflower oil), black olive, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms,
>> >> parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, sugar salt" (i.e., no MSG as such
>> >> but plenty of natural sources of glutamates[1]); "Produced in Italy
>> >> for Easy Tasty Magic by Gia SPA".
>> >>
>> > It has to taste better than Marmite and Vegemite, but why call a
>> > tomato based product Umami? Just shows what a fad umami is now to
>> > quantify something like that.

Unlike this stuff, Marmite & Vegemite are quite bitter (as well as
umami).


>> Probably. (ITYM "qualify".)
>
> I wrote what I meant to write: quantify. I should have added a couple
> of extra words to the sentence. "It just shows what a fad umami is
> now to quantify something like that" referring to the tomato based
> product. IOW, the product sounds delicious but I object to the name.

Well, they are definitely jumping on the "umami bandwagon".


--
It is probable that television drama of high caliber and produced by
first-rate artists will materially raise the level of dramatic taste
of the nation. (David Sarnoff, CEO of RCA, 1939; in Stoll 1995)