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Umami taste, free amino acid composition, and volatile compounds of brown seaweeds

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Abstract

Umami taste is associated with deliciousness and was first suggested as a basic taste by Kikunae Ikeda in 1909 when he discovered that the brown seaweed konbu (Saccharina japonica), used to provide aqueous extracts for the Japanese soup stock dashi, contains very large amounts of free glutamate. We have performed a comparative analysis of the free amino acid contents of 20 different species of brown seaweeds used for human consumption from around the world, belonging to the 12 genera Nereocystis, Macrocystis, Laminaria, Saccharina, Undaria, Alaria, Postelsia, Himanthalia, Ecklonia (former Eisenia), Sargassum, Fucus, and Corda. We furthermore measured mineral and iodine contents as well as identified a range of volatile compounds and estimated their influence on the perception of umami taste. The results provide a basis on which chefs and food producers can control umami sensation in food items using some of the most popular species of edible brown seaweeds.

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Acknowledgements

The work by OGM, ALH, and MBF is supported by the Nordea-fonden via a centre grant to Taste for Life. Louis Druehl is thanked for a generous gift of a salt precipitate from Nereocystis leutkeana and samples of Macrocystis, Nereocystis, and Laminaria harvested in Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island. Anita Dietz is acknowledged for providing samples of Danish seaweeds. Koji Kinoshita is thanked for the interpretation of the Japanese description on the packages of some commercial seaweeds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science, Taste for Life, Design and Consumer Behavior, University of Copenhagen, 26 Rolighedsvej, DK-1958, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Ole G. Mouritsen, Anna Loraine Hartmann & Michael Bom Frøst

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology, University of Southern Denmark, 55 Campusvej, DK-5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Lars Duelund

  3. Department of Food Science, Design and Consumer Behavior, University of Copenhagen, 26 Rolighedsvej, DK-1958, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Mikael Agerlin Petersen

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  1. Ole G. Mouritsen
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  2. Lars Duelund
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  3. Mikael Agerlin Petersen
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  4. Anna Loraine Hartmann
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  5. Michael Bom Frøst
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Correspondence to Ole G. Mouritsen.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: 1) The presentation of Tables 3 and 4 were incorrect and therefore replaced, and 2) The caption of Figure 7 was updated by inserting reference to Tables 1 and 3.

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Mouritsen, O.G., Duelund, L., Petersen, M.A. et al. Umami taste, free amino acid composition, and volatile compounds of brown seaweeds. J Appl Phycol 31, 1213–1232 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1632-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1632-x

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