The Magic Cube

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You could call it the Swiss Army knife of the kitchen bouillon is a handy ingredient whether it comes as bottled brown gloop or a cube wrapped up in shiny foil like a tiny present Today cooks around the world rely on this secret ingredient to add depth flavor and umami to their cooking It wasn t always so like many of today s packaged shortcuts condensed bouillon got its start in the 1800s when nutrition science was just taking off How did the mistaken discoveries of a German chemist pave the way for these umami bombs and what is umami anyway How did bouillon brands like Maggi and Knorr become part of national dishes as far afield as Nigeria India and Mexico And how did the invention of these early essences of meat lead to the creation of the love-it-or-hate-it spreads Marmite and Vegemite Listen in now for all that plus a matriarchal subterranean master race with electrical superpowers See omnystudio com listener for privacy information Click here to visit this podcast episode