Food - Drink
The One-Ingredient Trick To Instantly Save A Bland Pot Of Chili
By WENDY LEIGH
If you’ve ever tasted a spoonful of your brewing homemade chili just to find that it’s bland, all you need to fix it is a shaker of monosodium glutamate, aka MSG.
Tasteless on its own, MSG powder imparts flavor through its glutamate, which activates the human taste receptors responsible for the savory, full-bodied umami taste perception.
Health blog Healthline explains that MSG does this in part by stimulating salivary secretion, making your mouth water and improving the taste of whatever food you’re eating.
To give your flavorless chili that umami flavor kick, about one-eighth teaspoon of MSG per cup of chili will do the trick, but use your own taste buds as the ultimate guide.
If your chili recipe uses salt, you can also reduce salt intake by partially replacing it with MSG, which gives extra flavor while potentially alleviating cravings for more salt.