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osmazome - n., (chem., dated) a water-soluble substance formerly supposed to impart the characteristic meaty smell and taste to certain dishes.
The "sapidity of meat" as one reference puts it. This was a mild obsession of certain 19th century chemists, especially in France, where the word was coined (from Ancient Greek osmḗ, smell). It is, in other words, what we now call umami (from Japanese, from umai, delicious) and know is indeed water-soluble glutamates, any salt or ester of glutamic acid, one of the amino acids that make up proteins -- which we find tasty because our bodies want us to eat foods with proteins, and things with glutamates often have them.
---L.
The "sapidity of meat" as one reference puts it. This was a mild obsession of certain 19th century chemists, especially in France, where the word was coined (from Ancient Greek osmḗ, smell). It is, in other words, what we now call umami (from Japanese, from umai, delicious) and know is indeed water-soluble glutamates, any salt or ester of glutamic acid, one of the amino acids that make up proteins -- which we find tasty because our bodies want us to eat foods with proteins, and things with glutamates often have them.
---L.
