“Umami” was a trending word in America a few years ago, a Japanese word coined in 1908 to indicate a brothy or savory taste (umai = delicious, mi = taste).

Lauded as “the fifth taste” after sweet, sour, bitter and salty, the term seems to have faded into the background since its heyday here in 2006. If you need a brush-up, here’s an umami overview.

We consume “umami foods” every day: anchovy paste, asparagus, beef stew, bouillon, cured ham, ketchup, lamb shank, miso sauce and soup, MSG, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, ripe and sun-dried tomatoes, soy sauce, steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce, among others.

Umami is part of Western culture. Beginning in Greece and appearing in nearly every ancient Roman recipe as early as the 7th and 8th centuries B.C.E., garum, a fermented fish sauce, was the universal condiment to flavor food.

Fish sauce is an Asian staple, and things came full circle when Captain Henry Lewis Edwardes (1788–1866) brought the recipe for a fish sauce condiment home after travels in India.

It somehow got to John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, two dispensing chemists (pharmacists) in Worcester, England, who created the first “umami sauce” sold commercially, in 1837 and called, not surprisingly, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.
 
 
THE NEW UMAMI SAUCE

Continuing the tradition, a team of chefs from Omni Hotels & Resorts has created “Umami Sauce”—a sophisticated steak sauce—as a table condiment for its customers.

The chefs worked tirelessly for six months to create a sauce that “perfectly combined the essential ingredients to achieve the umami factor.”

This secret sauce was then bottled, wrapped and set out on restaurant tables for customers to use on everything from scrambled eggs in the morning to a late-night burger.

We cooked with it. It vastly improved a chuck pot roast—we tested it with an Umami Sauce marinade on one half, massaged it into the crevices of the meat, and salt and pepper on the other half.

The marinated side tasted so much richer that we next stirred Umami Sauce into a wild mushroom risotto, with similar happy results.

Umami Sauce can be purchase for $9.95 at select Omni Hotels, and is available online. The sauce is all natural and gluten free.

So if you’re looking for a special food stocking stuffer, head to the Omni Hotels website.

Mini pies have been trending, and might be a better choice for Thanksgiving, when you’re stuffed to the gills but still want dessert. But Lauryn Cohen, a.k.a. Bella Baker, has an even better idea: mini pecan pie bites.

Mini Pecan Pie Bites are baked in a mini muffin tin, creating “just a bite” to end the meal. Like the idea? Make mini pumpkin pie bites, too.

“These are quick, easy and a perfect choice to serve at a holiday party,” says Lauryn Cohen, a.k.a. Bella Baker. Here’s her recipe; there are many more special sweets to discover at BellaBaker.com.

RECIPE: MINI PECAN PIE BITES

Ingredients For 24 Bites

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F and spray the cavities of a 24-cup muffin tin generously with nonstick spray.

2. COMBINE the flour, sugar, butter and cream cheese with an electric mixture on medium/high speed until the dough comes together. One at a time, roll small balls of dough into the palm of your hand (about the size of a ping pong ball). Press each ball of dough into the muffin tin cavity, pressing dough up the sides to form a pie crust.

3. WHISK together the egg, brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Switch to a rubber spatula and mix in the chopped pecans. Pour filling into each of the muffin tin cavities filled with pie crust.

4. BAKE for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 300°F and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before removing from muffin tins. If need be, run a knife around the perimeter of the mini pie bites to loosen them from the muffin tin.
  

A particularly delicious brand of cinnamon tea. Photo courtesy Cinnamon Vogue.

But we keep tasting, and sometimes we hit the jackpot, as with the outstanding Cinnamon Vogue Ceylon cinnamon tea, a Top Pick Of The Week.

Made with high quality (premium large leaf) Ceylon tea and Ceylon cinnamon bark oil*, it’s vastly superior to teas we’ve had that blend tiny pieces cinnamon bark with the tea leaves—as nifty as that looks—or flavored with other oils or extracts.

The “ultra premium cinnamon bark oil” used by Cinnamon Vogue, a Las Vegas-based importer, gives the tea a celestial aroma and a truly sophisticated cinnamon flavor.

At $12.00 per can (20 pyramid tea bags), it’s a wonderful holiday gift for just about everyone. Each bag is wrapped in a foil packet for freshness. One tea bag is strong enough to make two cups (which is true with all top quality tea).

Get yours at CinnamonVogue.com.
 
*Cinnamon bark oil is one of the most costly food oils in the world. There’s no oily residue or other evidence of oil—just great flavor.

Everyone knows that tea has antioxidants; so does cinnamon.

Cinnamon is a spice that comes from the dried inner bark of trees that belong to the genus Cinnamomum (here are the different types of cinnamon). Different varieties are native to the Caribbean, South America, and Southeast Asia.

Cinnamon has been consumed since about 2000 B.C.E. in ancient Egypt, where it was considered to be almost a panacea. Since then, it has been used as a curative in numerous situations: to control blood sugar, to alleviate symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and to treat everything from fungal infections to Alzheimer’s Disease and HIV.

While you should question health claims made by manufacturers, here’s the scoop from Medical News Today.

ABOUT CEYLON TEA

Ceylon is the old colonial name for Sri Lanka, a tiny island off the coast of India. The black tea from the mountainous interior of the country has smooth flavor, medium body and a slightly fruity-honey finish. It is a favorite among black tea drinkers as a breakfast or afternoon tea. (Check out the different types of tea.)

In addition to growing tea, Ceylon is a source of the world’s finest cinnamon. How about that for a marriage made in heaven (or at least, in Sri Lanka)?
  

Some women dream of being Miss America; others want to win the Pillsbury Bake-Off.

At the recent finals of the 46th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest, Glori Spriggs of Henderson, Nevada brought home the bacon—actually, a $1 million grand prize, which buys a lot of bacon.

Her winning recipe for Loaded Potato Pinwheels—a cheesy bacon and potatoes mix rolled up in crescent dough—was chosen from 100 finalist recipes spanning three categories: Amazing Doable Dinners, Simple Sweets and Starters and Rise and Shine Breakfasts.

Why make some for your guests? They’re delicious with a savory cocktail, the most popular of which are the Bloody Mary and its wealth of variations; a Martini or Gibson (recipes); whiskey and soda; wine or beer.

Prep time is 20 minutes, total time is 45 minutes.

Ingredients For 28 Pinwheels

*These are roasted new potatoes seasoned with green and yellow peppers and onions—a dish that’s easy to make from scratch. The Green Giant product has garlic, parsley and natural smoke flavor.
 
Preparation

1. HEAT oven to 350°F. Spray large cookie sheets with cooking spray. Microwave frozen potatoes 3 to 4 minutes to thaw.

2. MASH potatoes with a fork in a medium bowl, leaving some small pieces. Stir in cheese, 1/3 cup of the bacon bits and the milk until well blended.

3. UNROLL dough on a cutting board; press into 14×8-inch rectangle. Cut into 2 rectangles, 14×4-inches each. Spread half of the potato mixture on one rectangle to within 1/4-inch of long edges. Starting at one long side, tightly roll up dough; pinch seams to seal. Using serrated knife, cut roll into 14 slices.

4. PLACE slices, cut side up, on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Bake 17 to 21 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately, remove from cookie sheets to serving plate.

5. TOP each pinwheel with sour cream, remaining bacon bits and the green onions. Serve warm.

Glutino Food Group has been in the gluten-free business for a long, long time, since the days when it wasn’t necessarily a cash-cow, but more of a labor of conviction.

They claim that their strategy is to simply “shut up and listen” and I have tasted enough to honestly believe them: The proof is in the pastries! Their responsiveness to what their market craves, and their brilliance at translating it, shows in the quality of their gluten-free products. And not just the quality, but the satisfaction, which is so far unparalleled for a gluten-free food brand (and I have tasted plenty).

Recently, I had a chance to revel in the latest offerings from Glutin: Toaster Pastry.

A superior toaster pastry in Apple Cinnamon or Strawberry. Photo courtesy Glutino Food Group.

The Apple Cinnamon is my favorite, with a flavor profile that went far beyond my expectations. It actually tastes like apples, and coming from a Minnesotan, there are few higher compliments.

The trick is that it is in fact made with apples, with just the right amount of sweetness and spice. The crust, after toasting, is flakily satisfying without being greasy, yet still manages to have a great mouthfeel. Each pastry is 160 calories, with only 45 from fat; and the sugar content is a completely justifiable 12g. These are comparable to—or even better than—your average healthy granola bar!

GOOD FOOD

Nothing in the ingredients list is scary. The one ingredient I questioned, inulin, turned out to be a naturally-derived carbohydrate—a soluble fiber that can increase calcium and magnesium absorption as well as promote the growth of beneficial intestinal flora (as long as eaten in moderation)!

The only thing that would make these better as a quick breakfast on-the-go, would be additional nutritional supplementation. But I don’t even ask that much. These pastries have already delivered something above and beyond, as Glutino manages to do every time. The brand is my gold standard.

AND A COUPON!

But as any manufacturer will tell you, the best ingredients are costly. Some retailers won’t carry these higher price point because of that, making it harder to get your hands on the line.

To make trial a bit more affordable, here’s a link to a coupon for $.55 off of any Glutino product. Some retailers include Fresh Direct and Whole Foods, and you can find the products on Amazon.com.

A box of 5 individually-wrapped pastries is $4.49 (90¢ each) on Amazon; a case of six boxes (30 pastries) saves a few cents.

Here’s a store locator.

MORE GOOD FOOD

I cannot wrap up this review without a rave for a few of Glutino’s other standouts. The company makes a nice range of gluten-free products, from cookies to crackers, breads and pastas. The quality of what I’ve tried is unparalleled, the flavor is flawless.

The line is certified kosher by Scroll K.

 
—Georgi Page