Dairy Products

Only modest amounts of free glutamate are found in dairy products, such as milk, butter, yogurt, crème fraîche, and fresh cheeses like bocconcini and ricotta. But once enzymes have gone to work on the milk to make aged and mature cheeses or blue cheeses, large quantities of free glutamate are released. Really hard cheeses, foremost among them Parmigiano-Reggiano, are the foodstuffs that yield up the most umami. Also, products made from goat’s and sheep’s milk have more umami than those made from cow’s milk.