Hackoh
JAEN

The Secrets of Fermentation

Episode 5

Why does it taste so good?

Is some new taste being added?

Mugi tastes cooked soybeans and miso side by side, puzzled that the same ingredients taste so different.
MugiDo you add umami to miso?
Hakkoh-chanYou don’t. It’s already inside the soybeans.
MugiBut soybeans don’t taste like miso.
Hakkoh-chanThe taste is too big to reach your tongue.
Enzyme scissors cut the long chains of soybean protein and rice starch into small pieces that can reach the tongue.
MugiWhat do you mean, the taste is big?
Hakkoh-chanSoybean protein is joined up in long chains.
Hakkoh-chanLike that, you can’t taste the umami.
MugiSo the enzyme scissors cut it?
Hakkoh-chanYes. Once it’s small, your tongue can tell.
MugiDoes only umami come out?
Hakkoh-chanSweetness and bitterness come out too.
Hakkoh-chanThe starch in rice turns into sweet sugar.
MugiSo no new taste is added.
Hakkoh-chanA taste that was hidden becomes visible.
Mugi tastes the miso soup and realizes the flavor hidden in the ingredients has opened up. Hakkoh-chan watches beside her.
MugiThe good taste was inside all along.
Hakkoh-chanJoined up big, it just couldn’t be seen.
MugiCut it, and it’s small enough to reach the tongue.
Hakkoh-chanThat’s it. That’s why the flavor opens.
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