Tag Archives: fermentation

What’s That Umami Doing in My Yorkshire Ale?

Yorkshire Ale2Umami in beer comes primarily from two sources. First, barley malt has considerable protein in it (in the range of 10 to 15 percent) and the largest component of this is glutamic acid. The processes required to turn barley into beer involve reactions that convert this to glutamates. Most importantly though, I believe, is the contribution of the yeast. Nutritional yeast, known for its nutty, creamy flavors, provides a sample of this flavor.

Yorkshire Ale provides a vivid example of fermentation-induced umami flavor. The yeast produces a variety of metabolic by-products that create a well-balanced beer that is malty, and even meaty. The flavors are toasty with estery notes that accentuate the malt ingredients. These ingredients are chosen for their ability to contribute glutamates and nucleotides of a wide variety.

Archetypical Yorkshire Ale is a sweet, full-bodied beer with a deep red-brown cola color. It has a thick head and a mash/roast malty smell. It tastes of bread, caramel, chocolate, nuts, brown sugar, carob and earth. In the mouth it’s robust, mildly bitter and astringent, with a roasted finish.

My recipe relies on brown and chocolate malts, with a crystal malt blend, cara-aroma, and melanoidin malts to develop the glutamates derived from Maillard reactions.

Demerara and extra-dark aromatic Belgian sugar contribute caramel to the profile. Flaked barley provides raw glutamates that also contribute to a thick long-lasting head.

This version is bittered with a highly bitter variety, but in a mild proportion. Traditional English hops provide flavor and aroma that does not overwhelm the malty nose. It comes in at 7% ABV, which makes it, while not a Tadcaster Stingo, a funky, earthy–but in a good way–experience as rich as tucking into a plate of roasted mutton chops.

What is Umami?

ajinomoto msaThe Umami Principle states that umami-producing ingredients produce full-spectrum beverages.  A “full-spectrum” is a sensation of balance and roundness on the palate, tongue, nose and even the throat.

Names like Heinz, Coca Cola, General Mills—or Anheuser-Busch, resound in the customer’s head with fond memories of picnics and good times.  This is no accident. The techniques of flavor balancing and optimizing consumer experience are well-known to the major commercial food and beverage producers.  It is what they live and die for—or for want of.  The premier names of the food and beverage world produce a consumer experience that is round and flavorful in every way.  Some people would say in too predictable a way, but that’s mass consumerism for you.

The key here is that their products have balance.  What does this mean?  In the world of ketchup, it means a product that is sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami in just about exactly the same proportions.  Thus, your typical kid can use ketchup as a virtual “flavor eraser” for any unfamiliar foods.

I daresay most people have never heard of umami.  Umami was identified in 1908 by Professor Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University as the taste sensation created by the presence of certain amino acids in a food or beverage.

For centuries it had remained unnamed, but exploited to balance the flavor of many foods.  While Umami was being formally described in Japan, the sensational French chef Escoffier was creating innovative recipes that combined all five of the basic tastes too, though he didn’t understand the chemistry of his discovery.

Chemically, combining ribonucleotides and glutamates in food and beverages creates a taste impact that is far more intense than the sum of both of these ingredients, while amplifying the effect of the other four taste sensations as well.  Escoffier had discovered Umami.