What is MSG (monosodium glutamate)?
A flavour enhancer. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), according to The World Book Encyclopedia, is a white, salt-like crystalline substance, which has little if any flavour of its own, yet dramatically improves the taste of foods that it has been added to (McWilliams, 1985, p. 611). This ability to heighten taste has made it known and used in most all regions of the world. Asians originally used a seaweed broth to obtain the flavour-enhancing effects of MSG, but today a fermenting process using starch, sugar beets, sugar cane, or molasses makes MSG. Glutamate itself is in many living things: It is found naturally in our bodies and in protein-containing foods, such as cheese, milk, meat, peas, and mushrooms. Some glutamate is in foods in a “free” form. It is only in this free form that glutamate can enhance a food’s flavour. Part of the flavour-enhancing effect of tomatoes, certain cheeses, and fermented or hydrolysed protein products (such as soy sauce) are due to the presence of free glutam
