On Saturday February, 13th the Louisville Courier Journal published an article on Ooohmami! written by local author Nancy Miller.

Chef creates ‘yummy’ flavor booster

After Rachel Colvin left Artemisia as pastry chef, she opened Dolce, where she makes desserts and breads for restaurants and deli foods for Rainbow Blossom. She also got married and changed her name to Torres, and attended a food-science class at a Women Chefs and Restaurateurs National Conference.

It was there that she had one of those ah ha! moments, and learned about umami. Her discovery led her to launch a new product and to start spewing words such as “glutomatic nucleotides” with enthusiasm.

If you thought there were only four tastes — sweet, sour, salt and bitter — Torres will set you straight with zeal. Umami, which means savoriness (and loosely translates to “yummy” in Japanese), is now considered the fifth taste.

Umami can be found in MSG and several artificial additives. Because Torres eschews the use of chemicals, she began testing and tasting natural ingredients to create her own umami product.

“I found a synergistic combination, my own blend of dried kombu, which is a kind of seaweed, shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes and nutritional yeast,” she said. “It brings out intense flavors without the use of any animal or synthetic products and adds incredible taste to a wide range of foods, especially enhancing vegetarian dishes. It’s an exciting addition to a cook’s flavor toolbox.”

Mix 1 tablespoon of her Ooohmami! flavor enhancer, 1 teaspoon of salt and 4 cups of hot water for a delicious vegetable stock, Torres suggests. She also adds the powdered mixture to meatballs, sausage, veggie burgers, practically anything that needs a boost of flavor.

Ooohmami! is available at Rainbow Blossom, Lotsa Pasta, Paul’s Fruit Market, Amazing Grace and Foxhollow Farm. It’s $8.99 for 4.5 ounces.

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