Beyond food and flavors: Kokumi Yeast Extract

What is Kokumi Yeast Extract?

It is known that the five food flavors are sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. The umami flavor comes from glutamate in the food, an amino acid basic component of proteins. This flavor is common in a huge quantity of food, it extends over the tongue, it takes more time than the other basic flavors tastier.

Kokumi is not a six flavor, is a flavor modifier. In Japanese is defined as “deliciousness”, in other words, the combination of a mouthful, long-lasting kokumi sensation, and harmony in taste. Yeast extract is a food ingredient made from the same yeast used to make bread and beer. It’s also added to some foods like soy sauce and cheese for a savory flavor, in this case, Kokumi makes that umami, the other senses, and flavors food has more intense sensations. The first company to develop Kokumi Yeast Extract was Ajinomoto, a Japanese multinational.

If you want to go further than common flavors and tastes and eat in a nutritive way, at the same time, in this article you are going to find out everything about Kokumi Yeast Extract.

Benefits of Kokumi Yeast Extract.

1. Even though salty, spicy, and sweet foods are unhealthy, there are a lot of ways to eat in a good way without having alimentary risks. Kokumi Yeast Extract allows to amplify and enhance the original taste of food matching it with other freshness enhancers to multiply freshness and tastes.

2. Its distinctive of kokumi yeast extract their capability of synergizing with other freshness enhancers to multiply the freshness of food.

3. Also, this yeast enhances the sense of continuity of the food, making the product with a long-lasting taste sensation, reaching a new level and experience for international foods because it stands out the unique characteristics of typical food and flavors from different cultures.

4. Some foods have an unpleasant flavor and people use to think that any kind of yeast isn’t tasty. Cooking with kokumi yeast extract allows to mask the bad flavor of food and make it delicious.  

5. Seems impossible that this product can reduce cooking time and cost, but it’s real. Kokumi Yeast Extract enhance food fermentation, cooking, and brewing flavor, reducing food processing time and cost.

The Development of Yeast Extract Industry

The use and massive production of Kokumi Yeast Extract are relatively new, and their use has been popular because this is the most advanced product in the yeast extract industry. It has been developed in four stages, discovering new features and adding processes and possibilities. In this section, you will find out a comparison of four-generation yeast extract products.

First Generation-Standard Yeast Extract

The first generation is just the standard flavored yeast extract at the beginning of the process to figure out the uses and how to produce it. The main features of Standard Yeast Extract like the sense of fullness, complexity, and after taste were there, the typical lack of freshness was missing. The different manufacturers of different products had problems with the odor, and acidity, which could be an impact on the flavor of the product. They realized that the yeast of the amount added must have a limit.  

Second Generation-Flavored Yeast Extract

With the concerns about the flavors, in the second generation, the reactive and meat flavored yeast extract were used to remove yeast flavor, making that food flavor was close or could give meat flavor. Again, they tried to make the addition amount variable.

Third Generation-High Nucleotide Yeast Extract

The third generation made innovation and a technological advance of the yeast production process. High I + G Yeast Extract adjusted the freshness intensity. Instead of MSG or synergistic freshness enhancement, it was used High glutamic acid type or high nucleotide yeast extract.

Fourth Generation-Kokumi Yeast Extract

Kokumi Yeast Extract is the result of all the efforts and discoveries. The fourth generation reached a richness of fresh flavor, improved continuity with a sense of explosion, and intensifying food flavor.

Comparison of generations products

The principal changes between generations are the development of taste intensity, the yeast taste, the long-lasting after-meal effect, and the challenge of keeping the original taste food. After this history, it could be said that is remarkable that the four generations made big steps to reach the Kokumi Yeast Extract that we can enjoy today.

How can I recognize Kokumi Yeast Extract?

This question should seem silly, but if you decide to cook and reach a new level of flavors for your foods it’s necessary to know what you are adding to your meals. There is one way to test different yeast extracts models, that only needs to dissolve the yeast into 2% solution, then hold the aqueous solution in your mouth and record the time for the umami flavor to stay in your mouth; the longer it lasts, the stronger the umami flavor is, making recognizable a real Kokumi Yeast Extract, just by the intensification of umami and other tastes.

Remember that umami is a measure for Kokumi, but this extract doesn’t have an impact only on the umami sense. In this graphic, you can see the relation between the time and intensity of umami, to identify if the yeast is Kokumi.  This could be the visual representation of the test.

Accurate test results are not only determined by one person because it makes no sense to believe that their sensations are the same for everybody. That’s why this sensory test will have better results if it is performed at the same time by a group of people.

Is Kokumi a natural substance?

Yes. A lot of common natural foods have Kokumi taste like yeast, fish sauce, shrimp paste, cheese, and even beer or food, generally fermented. Also, elaborated food or cooking together food with strong taste substances will enhance Kokumi levels, like garlic, onions, and meat. Also, our bodies provide a strong taste using small kokumi peptide molecules, and it is directly related to the molecular weight, structure, and content of small molecule peptides.

Uses and applications of Kokumi Yeast Extract.

Without a doubt, this yeast has multiple benefits for our nourishment. Using it, in the best possible way, could improve our meals, food experience, and make better our health. Here you are going to find some uses and tips to introduce Kokumi Yeast Extract in our daily life.   

Food conservation

The amount of added yeast to frozen meat makes it possible that it can have freshness longer time, maintain the original meat fragrance, and enhance the quality by keeping their taste. In the beef soup, there is a small amount of yeast extract, to keep the freshness and long-lasting sensations when is being eaten, also it keeps the flavor and the fragrance. For sausages, the yeast balances their taste by neutralizing it and increasing the mellow taste of meat. By adding a small percentage in peanut butter, the fat content is reduced around 30%, enhancing the peanut flavor and giving an aftertaste and pleasant butter flavor.

Cooking uses

Otherwise, we can use Kokumi Yeast Extract with our own hands! It is helpful cooking because it can reduce the cooking time of some foods like beef just by adding the yeast, and without the preoccupation about reaching the quality taste. The difference is enormous because the stew time of beef normally takes 5 hours and using the yeast makes possible that processing time just in one hour. Like this example, there is a lot of cooking processes that get better, faster, and even tastier using a small amount of Kokumi Yeast Extract.

Food seasoning

Years ago, when people and manufacturers started using yeast, they used to do it as a household seasoning as they did with products like soy sauce, spicy sauce, and chicken essence. They added the seasonings in small amounts, because, as we told you before, the flavor and tastes of dishes were more dominant by yeast extract than today. That was between the first and second generations when they realized that yeast needed just quantity because by using more than the necessary yeast, the food wasn’t delicious and couldn’t be eaten.

Hiyeast Kokumi Yeast Extract

Hiyeast Biotech is a specialized company yeast extract supplier. Hiyeast kokumi yeast extract are based on high glutamine strains combined with targeted hydrolysis technology to hydrolyze rich small molecule peptides, combined with yeast’s own nucleotide molecules, organic acids, amino acids and other fresh flavor molecules.  

Rich in short peptides and glutathione, this product enhances the original flavor of food by providing the most powerful freshness, long-lasting and complex effects at extremely low levels of addition.

This characteristic allows different yeast applications cooking: from instant noodles, compound condiments, cubes, bouillons, snacks, to flavorings.

Final Considerations

Now, the industries and the development of better production processes consider essential the Kokumi Yeast Extract for food products, and it has a direct role in the use of different seasonings.

After many years, using the exact amount for each case has been daily nutritional life better. For example, for special diets like vegan, the yeast is used as a seasoning, adding it as a complement for their meals, because is nutritive and it tastes like a special type of cheese, that make the perfect match with pasta.

Everybody knows that today is difficult to have an appropriate diet, lifestyle, nourishment, and health. These are just a few reasons to think and have consciousness about the decisions or our meals. Looking behind in history allows us to understand some characteristics, features, and benefits of certain foods, but it is not enough because our nutritional needs and resources are different. That’s why is important to know the necessary information about food and decide which are the best options for our nourishment and health, according to our social life and beliefs.

Kokumi Yeast Extract is a perfect food ingredient because of its benefits, many uses, its original, historical, and contemporary role in the food industry, and nutritional health. Eat-in a healthy way, keeping flavors, vitamins, food characteristics is possible with delicious food and new entire eating experiences due to Kokumi Yeast Extract.