How To Turn Your Basic Salt Into An Umami-Loaded Seasoning

Cooks are always looking for new ingredients and techniques that boost flavor, and we've found a super-easy seasoning that delivers it in heaps (while requiring only a pinch). All it takes is two chemical compounds, one of which you're guaranteed to already have in your kitchen: salt. The other is a fun little ingredient you may not have been properly introduced to before, and it's time to change that. Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is a white, crystalline food additive derived from L-glutamic acid, an amino acid found naturally in a wide range of foods like seared beef, egg yolks, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. Glutamic acid (or glutamate) is what gives these foods their savory flavor, a taste known as umami. 

Whether you're eating glutamate in one of these foods or in the form of MSG, your body can't tell the difference, despite the old myth about MSG being bad for us. All it can tell is that something mighty delicious is happening, because MSG's superpower is amplifying other savory flavors.

Though it may look similar to salt, MSG contains only 33% of the sodium that salt has, so it tastes savory on the tongue rather than salty. When you combine MSG with salt, which enhances savory flavors itself, you get a simple umami-loaded seasoning that provides a rich depth of flavor more than the two components alone could ever do. So grab your salt, get some Ac'cent (or any other MSG), and prepare yourself for the new world of flavor waiting for you.

To create your umami flavor bomb, combine 1 teaspoon of MSG (finely ground instead of coarsely ground) with 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. Put your salt and MSG in an empty spice shaker, and give it a good shake to mix it up.

As for what foods to finish with your new best flavor-friend, the only rule is that it goes on savory foods — not sweet. So anything you'd typically sprinkle with salt could benefit from this umami-loaded seasoning: vegetables, proteins, nuts, soups, or stews. It also beautifully enhances the salty flavors in snacks or sides like popcorn or french fries, allowing you to use less salt to get the same flavor — pretty cool if you're trying to cut sodium (and also cool if you're just a food nerd.)

This umami seasoning goes especially well in egg dishes, adding an extra depth of flavor you can only get when MSG meets the umami-rich glutamate in the eggs. For craveable scrambled eggs, mix in about an ⅛ teaspoon of it per 4 eggs instead of your usual pinches of salt. Make an even better egg salad sandwich by incorporating a little of this blend, or take a deviled egg club sandwich up a flavor notch or two. Be prepared to come back to this seasoning time and again as you unlock a whole new level of deliciousness.