Food additive - sodium glutamate, a good person who is wrongfully imprisoned

If you haven't heard of sodium glutamate, then you must know its other name - MSG.

Sodium glutamate originated from the acidic amino acid obtained by the hydrolysis of wheat bran with sulfuric acid by German chemist Karl Heinrich Leopold Reithausen in the mid-19th century, and was named glutamate.

In the early 20th century, the Japanese scientist Dr. Kikumi Ikeda used kelp to isolate the taste ingredients separately. Kikumi Ikeda noticed that both Japanese wooden fish and kelp fish soups had a special taste, which he had not scientifically described at the time, and which was distinct from sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes.

• To confirm that ionized glutamate is responsible for this umami taste, Professor Ikeda studied a number of taste properties of glutamate, including calcium, potassium, ammonium, and magnesium.
• This umami is produced by all salts except for a certain metallic taste produced by other minerals.
• Of these salts, sodium glutamate is the most soluble, tastes the best, and is easy to crystallize.
• Professor Ikeda named this product sodium glutamate and patented it for the production of MSG.
• To produce chemical flavorings and put them on the market.

After the Japanese "Ainomoto" was introduced to China, we Chinese did not have our own MSG and relied on Japanese imports.

At that time, the entire condiment industry in China and the world was dominated by the Japanese "Ainomoto". At the same time, the Japanese kept the extraction process of the MSG raw material "sodium glutamate" strictly secret, attempting to monopolize the world market for a long time.

Also in the early 20th century, China began to develop its own MSG, Wu Yunchu, as the first group of chemists to successfully develop MSG, with his curiosity and eagerness to learn, broke the Japanese industry monopoly, and opened a new era of China's electrochemical industry. Since then, China's MSG has begun to occupy a large area of our country's food industry.

After the mid-20th century, our country's monosodium glutamate factories used grain as raw materials (corn starch, rice, wheat starch, sweet potato starch) to obtain sodium glutamate that meets national standards through microbial fermentation, extraction and refining. After using it, the dishes are more delicious and delicious.

What is sodium glutamate? We all know more or less about "amino acids". Since childhood, many supplements bought by parents have written "amino acids". I remember that the canned milk powder I often drink in school also has protein and amino acid content in the ingredient list on the back.

Glutamate is one of the amino acids. It is fermented with glutamate, and an appropriate amount of inorganic salts and microorganisms are added to prepare a fermentation medium. After continuous elimination and cooling to 40 ° C, it is sent to the sterilized fermentation tank. Liquid ammonia is the nitrogen source, and glutamate-producing bacteria are inoculated with secondary expansion culture. Sodium glutamate (C5H8NNaO4) can be obtained.

When sodium glutamate is heated to above 120 ° C or about 100 ° C for a long time, it will lose crystalline water and become anhydrous sodium glutamate. At the same time, some anhydrous sodium glutamate will undergo intramolecular dehydration, generating sodium pyroglutamate, which causes MSG to lose its umami.

Why is sodium glutamate blamed? First of all, the umami of sodium glutamate can only appear in the presence of salt, and it has a certain inhibitory effect on sour and bitter taste, that is, it has a certain degree of taste buffering effect. If pure MSG is added to dishes without salt, it will not only have no umami, but will make people feel an unpleasant fishy smell.

• Secondly, sodium glutamate itself should pay attention to the dosage. Excessive consumption will hinder the balance of amino acids in the body and even cause allergies.
• Finally, it has been reported that MSG will be converted into sodium pyroglutamate under long-term high temperature conditions, which does not show umami but also has slight toxicity. However, after long-term toxicological experiments by scientists, the results were completely opposite. Not only is it not toxic, but it is very safe.

Monosodium glutamate has suffered "unjustified injustice" during long-term use. Due to the lack of a comprehensive and scientific understanding of the nutritional properties of monosodium glutamate, it is believed that monosodium glutamate is not nutritious and even harmful to the human body. Some people feel headaches, chest tightness, nausea, vomiting, heart palpitations, abdominal pain and other discomforts after eating, which are blamed on monosodium glutamate, which is called "monosodium glutamate symptoms". Coupled with the repeated hype on the topic of "monosodium glutamate poisoning health", monosodium glutamate was once suspected of being an unsafe freshening condiment

Main advantages of sodium glutamate:

• It has important physiological functions in the body. Glutamic acid is not an essential amino acid for the human body, but it participates in many metabolic processes, so it has high nutritional value. In the human body, glutamic acid can combine with blood ammonia to generate glutamine, which relieves the toxic effect of ammonia produced during tissue metabolism and can be used as an adjunct drug in the treatment of liver disease.
• Treats hepatic coma, liver function injury and coma of various reasons; has adjuvant therapeutic effect on psychosis, neurasthenia, epilepsy, and children's brain dysplasia. According to studies, taking a certain amount of sodium glutamate every day can enhance memory, stabilize mood, invigorate spirit, and improve intelligence; it is suitable for loss of appetite, lack of stomach acid, and malnutrition.
• With protein and sugar metabolism in the brain, it promotes the oxidation process of brain cells. Brain tissue can oxidize glutamate, but not other amino acids. When the glucose supply is insufficient, glutamate can be used as an energy source for brain tissue.

It can be said that sodium glutamate is a completely healthy, high-quality, nutritious food additive that provides the essential amino acids for the human body and can add the necessary flavor to food.

To sum up, sodium glutamate is a nutritious, delicious, safe and reliable freshening condiment. When cooking dishes, you should fully understand the flavor mechanism of monosodium glutamate, grasp the influence of various factors on the freshening effect of monosodium glutamate, and grasp the umami characteristics of dish ingredients. Scientific use of monosodium glutamate can not only maximize the freshening effect of monosodium glutamate to cook delicious and unique dishes, but also give full play to the nutritional and health care effect of sodium glutamate to ensure the health and safety of eaters.