These magical foods are loaded with natural MSG

Monosodium glutamate is a powerful flavor enhancer that, despite what you may have heard, is widely accepted in the scientific community as a safe additive. In fact, MSG or other "free glutamates" occur naturally in many of the most flavorful foods, some of which have been used to enhance flavor in cooking for millennia.

What makes MSG and other free glutamates so potent, researchers believe, is that they trigger special glutamate receptors in your mouth, unlocking the savory taste known as umami.

How do you get free glutamates in your food naturally? Here are some of the foods with the most, according to a review of studies by the Australia/New Zealand food board and a Japanese NGO devoted to umami:

Kelp: 230-3380 mg /100g

Seaweed: 550-1350 mg

Marmite 1960 mg

Vegemite: 1431 mg

Fish sauce: 727-1383 mg

Soy sauce: 400-1700 mg

Parmesan cheese: 1200-1680 mg

Roquefort cheese: 1280 mg

Dried shiitake mushrooms: 1060 mg

Oyster sauce: 900 mg

Miso: 200-700 mg

Green tea: 220-670 mg

Anchovies: 630 mg

Salted squid: 620 mg

Cured ham: 340 mg

Emmental cheese: 310 mg

Sardines: 10-280 mg

Grape juice: 258 mg

Kimchi: 240 mg

Cheddar cheese: 180 mg

Tomatoes: 140-250 mg

Clams: 210 mg

Peas: 200 mg

Potatoes: 30-180 mg

Scallops: 140-159 mg

Squid: 20-146 mg

Shimeji mushrooms: 140 mg

Oysters: 40-150 mg

Corn: 70-130 mg

"If you want to make something taste good, put Parmesan on anything," food scientist Steve Witherly tells Business Insider. "The Italians have known this for about 2,000 years."

So it's logical that a bit of kelp, seaweed, soy sauce, or any other of these ingredients, when added the right way, could punch up the flavor of an existing recipe as well. Yes, a lot of this stuff comes from East Asia (including artificial MSG, invented in Japan).

"Asians are way ahead on the savory side," Witherly says.

If you want a shortcut to umami heaven, you can, of course, use artificial MSG. Witherly swears by it in his home-cooking, particularly what he calls the "ideal mixture" of 9 parts salt to 1 part MSG (plus a bit of disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate). You can buy that potent combination in premixed forms at most Korean and Japanese grocery stores.