Buying some tomato paste recently I spotted a tube of 'Taste No5 Umani Paste' by Easy Tasty Magic. Intrigued of course I had to get a tube. It comes in a smart silver 'Muji-like' tube and the ingredients looked promising for that 'savoury deliciousness' - tomato Puree, garlic, anchovy paste, black olives, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms, parmesan cheese, olive oil, sugar & salt. Raw it tastes a little like Miso paste but the idea is to squeeze it into dishes and use as a marinade.

The first question is, "is it cheating?" Is that fifth taste something which we should be striving to create in the kitchen without resorting to a tube?

Secondly, "does it work?" I don't know yet - I'm having a curry making weekend and it certainly makes absolutely no difference in a curry!

Thirdly. "would it continue to work" - if it was squeezed in to everything all the time would it just become superfluous?

I think I'd rather add my own specific 'umani' depending on the dish - like mushroom ketchup, anchovy paste, thai fish sauce depending on the dish. Perhaps it is best kept for when you have cooked something rather lame and it needs that 'something extra' and you are not sure what.

What do others think?

How about making a clear broth/soup in a mug with it, like you do with Bovril or Oxo? I read about it in papaers a while back, but am not planning to get it any time soon. I will look forward to hear your comments, after you have used it for a while.

It's UMAMI and yeah, it does work!

:)