16 ms·

It’s cool but I was hoping it would talk about how to make your own MSG.

pessimizer 5y ago
Yup, I'm sad that this won't further my dream of selling artisan MSG at farmer's markets. I could do a coarse "kosher" MSG, but that might taste terrible.
- NikolaeVarius 5y ago
  Just sell kombu salt like everyone else
- thedougd 5y ago
  An MSG grinder! Burr mill of course.
  - EricE 5y ago
    ugh - grinding things that do not contain essential oils (like peppercorns = essential oils!) is worthless, annoying and bordering on pretentious.
    - utucuro 5y ago
      Powdered sugar is produced by grinding, as is table salt... So, add trying to achieve a specific texture, or melting property to things with essential oils and you're fine (Though I cannot help but smirk at the idea of using a sugar grinder for your tea)
      - schwartzworld 5y ago
        Op means grinding fresh. You can buy salt in a plastic spice grinder, for example. It's cute, but doesn't improve the salt like grinding does for spices.
- hazza_n_dazza 5y ago
  You can buy in bulk at chinese store and add some smoke flavour or paprika and wham! New Product! (Oh No!) :)
user_7832 5y ago
Probably not what you were looking for, but you can use yeast extract as a source of MSG. If I'm not mistaken some companies like McDonald's use this as a work-around. Edit - apparently it is not banned in the US, though it is limited to 10g/kg of food in the EU. Sorry for the mistake, I could've swore I saw it banned somewhere. Edit 2 - I think I was thinking about Sodium Cyclamte instead, a sweetener in the Non-US Sweet n Low variants amongst other uses.
- arsome 5y ago
  What? MSG is very commonly used in popular American snack foods, like Doritos, no need for a workaround and there's no ban on it.
- userbinator 5y ago
  Fun fact - MSG is completely banned in the US for use in food Where did you read that? It would be all over the news if it was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given MSG its generally recognized as safe (GRAS) designation
  - user_7832 5y ago
    Thanks, I've corrected it. I don't know why I remember reading that because I used to wonder what might have caused such a reaction from the FDA. I suppose I'm misremembering with some other compound. Edit: I think it's Sodium Cyclamte I was thinking about, a sweetener in the Non-US Sweet n Low variants amongst other uses.
    - mprovost 5y ago
      I feel like this is a reenactment of how MSG got a bad name in the first place. Someone mistook it for a different compound and here we are decades later.
      - user_7832 5y ago
OJFord 5y ago
According to Wikipedia, modern industrial production is actually mainly by bacterial fermentation (perhaps because the earlier method produced hydrogen chloride), and it sounds probably doable: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jgam1955/3/3/3_3_193/_pdf https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jgam1955/3/3/3_3_193/_p... Hard if you want to optimise yield (as you would industrially), but seems not so hard to happen across a yeast strain that will produce some glutamate.

Yup, I'm sad that this won't further my dream of selling artisan MSG at farmer's markets. I could do a coarse "kosher" MSG, but that might taste terrible.

NikolaeVarius 5y ago
Just sell kombu salt like everyone else
thedougd 5y ago
An MSG grinder! Burr mill of course.
- EricE 5y ago
  ugh - grinding things that do not contain essential oils (like peppercorns = essential oils!) is worthless, annoying and bordering on pretentious.
  - utucuro 5y ago
    Powdered sugar is produced by grinding, as is table salt... So, add trying to achieve a specific texture, or melting property to things with essential oils and you're fine (Though I cannot help but smirk at the idea of using a sugar grinder for your tea)
    - schwartzworld 5y ago
      Op means grinding fresh. You can buy salt in a plastic spice grinder, for example. It's cute, but doesn't improve the salt like grinding does for spices.
hazza_n_dazza 5y ago
You can buy in bulk at chinese store and add some smoke flavour or paprika and wham! New Product! (Oh No!) :)

user_7832 5y ago

Probably not what you were looking for, but you can use yeast extract as a source of MSG. If I'm not mistaken some companies like McDonald's use this as a work-around. Edit - apparently it is not banned in the US, though it is limited to 10g/kg of food in the EU. Sorry for the mistake, I could've swore I saw it banned somewhere. Edit 2 - I think I was thinking about Sodium Cyclamte instead, a sweetener in the Non-US Sweet n Low variants amongst other uses.

arsome 5y ago
What? MSG is very commonly used in popular American snack foods, like Doritos, no need for a workaround and there's no ban on it.
userbinator 5y ago
Fun fact - MSG is completely banned in the US for use in food Where did you read that? It would be all over the news if it was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given MSG its generally recognized as safe (GRAS) designation
- user_7832 5y ago
  Thanks, I've corrected it. I don't know why I remember reading that because I used to wonder what might have caused such a reaction from the FDA. I suppose I'm misremembering with some other compound. Edit: I think it's Sodium Cyclamte I was thinking about, a sweetener in the Non-US Sweet n Low variants amongst other uses.
  - mprovost 5y ago
    I feel like this is a reenactment of how MSG got a bad name in the first place. Someone mistook it for a different compound and here we are decades later.
    - user_7832 5y ago

OJFord 5y ago

According to Wikipedia, modern industrial production is actually mainly by bacterial fermentation (perhaps because the earlier method produced hydrogen chloride), and it sounds probably doable: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jgam1955/3/3/3_3_193/_pdf https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jgam1955/3/3/3_3_193/_p... Hard if you want to optimise yield (as you would industrially), but seems not so hard to happen across a yeast strain that will produce some glutamate.