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By IRVING S. FAGERSON 

 Department of Food Technology 



THE BOOK of Chau Lai written 

 before 1000 B.C. mentions 120 

 jars of sauces used by the royal cook. 

 Assuming that some of these sauces 

 included soy sauce or its equivalent, 

 we might conclude that the Chinese 

 have been using soy sauces for more 

 than 3000 years ! 



In China, the preparation of soy 

 sauce is largely a household art, but 

 in Japan and the United States it is 

 a commercial process. 



One of the amino acids in soy 

 sauce (glutamic acid) is essential in 

 all soy sauces. More specifically, 

 the sodium salt (monosodium glu- 

 tamate), more popularly knoAvn as 

 MSG, appears to possess the unique 

 property of stimulating the nerve 

 endings of the taste buds to accen- 

 tuate many natural flavors. Its pro- 

 nounced effect on many foods is not 

 duplicated by any other seasoning. 



MSG is now prepared in the United 

 States from such sources as wheat 

 gluten, corn gluten, and a by-product 

 of beet sugar manufacturing called 

 Steflfan's waste. Using a more rapid 

 method rather than the ancient 

 method of slow fermentation, the 

 United States produced 12,000,000 

 pounds of MSG in 1948. 



Although the unique properties of 

 MSG have led to its wide use, it is 

 not universally applicable to such 



foods as fruits, fruit juices, sweet 

 baked goods, some dairy products 

 and cooked cereals, and some pro- 

 ducts with relatively large amounts 

 of fat. 



The Department of Food Tech- 

 nology has recently completed a study 

 to determine whether MSG added 

 to certain frozen foods would main- 

 tain or improve the flavor of these 

 products over a continued storage 

 period. 



MSG in amounts from 2 to 5 

 ounces per 100 pounds of various 

 food products was added during pre- 

 paration or at the time of packaging. 

 Control samples without added MSG 

 were also prepared as a basis for 

 comparison. Samples from each 

 pack were withdrawn from frozen 

 storage at approximately three-month 

 intervals during the year, and flavor 

 differences were tested by a taste 

 panel. 



The most effective amounts of 

 MSG (to 100 pounds of food product) 

 were: clam chowder, 2 ounces; cod- 

 fish cakes, 2}/^ ounces; haddock fil- 

 lets. 3 ounces; chicken-a-la king, 3 

 ounces; rosefish fillets, 3 ounces; and 

 beef stew, 4 ounces. The flavor of 

 those foods with MSG added was 

 preferred over the controls, and this 

 flavor was still preferred during the 

 12-month storage period. 



