Umami Taste No. 5. Paste. I’m sure you’ve heard of it by now. If not, you need to stop reading this article right now, do a quick search on it and come back to me. You’ll have a better understanding of the POW I’m about to put on you!

Honestly, I hadn’t heard of this much raved about paste until I did a search myself and read a few food blogs hyping it up. That being said, I’ll admit I’m always usually skeptical of any one new ingredient that claims to be the best new thing, the IT factor in food or the chicest thing you have to add to your pantry. Doesn’t every new product or brand claim to be the best? That’s part of being in business.

But, I digress. I’m supposed to be enticing you to try this umami paste, craftily named after the Japanese term for the 5^th palate taste found in savory food. I finally was able to taste it and was intrigued. It had a very strong but smooth taste and wasn’t too thick. I had ideas of what I could do with it.

Read the rest of the column and get the delish recipe on Dean & DeLuca’s ‘Gourmet Blog!’