Although glutamic acid was first isolated from wheat gluten and named after it by the German scientist Ritthausen in 1866, it was only in 1908 monosodium glutamate was discovered and isolated from hydrolyzed of ‘konbu’, seaweed by Dr. Kikunae Ikeda.
In 1913, investigations of the Japanese scientist Kodoma into dried bonito led to the discovery that inosinic acid, known since German scientist Justus von Liebig’s mid 19th century work on beef broth is another umami substance.
Ajinomoto as the first company to produce monosodium glutamate in an industrial scale by extraction from wheat hydrolyzates.
In 1950s, Japanese researchers a fermentation method using Corynebacterium glutamicum to produce glutamate directly from cheap sugar and ammonia.
Thereafter, many bacteria were identified as good glutamic acid producer and were used for monosodium glutamate production in Japanese industry.
American consumers first learned about MSG in 1947, when a Japanese manufacturer marketed the chemical in US as Ac’cent flavor enhancer.
Early history of monosodium glutamate
