Kikunae Ikeda

Kikunae Ikeda (池田 菊苗, Ikeda Kikunae, 8 October 1864 – 3 May 1936) was a Japanese chemist and Tokyo Imperial University professor of Chemistry who, in 1908, uncovered the chemical basis of a taste he named umami. It is one of the five basic tastes along with sweet, bitter, sour and salty.

In 1907 at the Tokyo Imperial University in Japan, Professor Kikunae Ikeda was eating dinner with his family when he suddenly stopped. That day the dashi broth in his soup was more delicious than normal; after stirring a few times he realized the difference was the umami flavor from the addition of kombu. He understood that kombu was the secret to that flavor, and from that day on he studied the chemical composition of kelp.

By 1908, he had isolated brown crystals of glutamic acid (glutamate) which conveyed the characteristic flavor. The chemical sodium glutamate is the chemical basis for the umami flavor. He chose to call it Ajinomoto, "at the origin of flavor." By 1909 he had developed a process for mass-producing monosodium glutamate. He was able to extract monosodium glutamate from wheat and defatted soybean, and patented the process for its manufacture. With this method the global production of monosodium glutamate increased rapidly.