Monosodium glutamate is a kind of sodium salt of glutamic acid, which is a delicious substance. Its scientific name is sodium glutamate, also known as monosodium glutamate. In addition, it also contains a small amount of salt, water, fat, sugar, iron, phosphorus and other substances. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a kind of savory seasoning cooking material, which is made from wheat, soybean and other raw materials containing more protein by hydrolysis or starch by fermentation. It can also be made from beet and honey by chemical synthesis. Monosodium glutamate is easily soluble in water, hygroscopic and delicious. It is still delicious when dissolved in 3000 times of water, and its optimal dissolution temperature is 70℃ ~ 90℃. Monosodium glutamate is stable under general cooking and processing conditions, but it is easy to become sodium pyroglutamate at high temperature for a long time, which has no umami taste and slight toxicity. In alkaline or strongly acidic solutions, it precipitates or is difficult to dissolve, and its umami taste is not obvious or even disappears. It can not only increase people's appetite, but also provide some nutrition as a home-made condiment.

Monosodium glutamate can supplement human amino acids, which is beneficial to improve and maintain brain function. Because of its delicious taste, it can stimulate people's appetite. Monosodium glutamate helps to improve the digestibility of food. In addition, sodium glutamate, the main component of monosodium glutamate, also has the function of treating chronic hepatitis, hepatic coma, neurasthenia, epilepsy, gastric acid deficiency and other diseases.

Monosodium glutamate is a kind of seasoning to enhance flavor, which can be used for cooking, stuffing, cold dishes and soup. However, if you don't follow the usage rules, you will not achieve the ideal seasoning effect, and even have side effects. Therefore, when using monosodium glutamate in cooking, you should pay attention to: 1. Because when the temperature is higher than 120℃, sodium glutamate will become the focus, which is harmful to human body after eating and difficult to excrete. 2. It is not advisable to add monosodium glutamate to acidic foods, such as sweet and sour fish and sweet and sour tenderloin. Monosodium glutamate is alkaline, and adding it to acidic food will cause chemical reaction and make dishes stale. 3. It is not suitable to use monosodium glutamate in alkaline raw materials. When monosodium glutamate meets alkali, it will synthesize disodium glutamate, which will produce ammonia odor, reduce the umami taste and even lose its umami taste. 4. Pay attention to the degree of saltiness. If it is too salty, monosodium glutamate may not taste delicious. When the ratio of salt to monosodium glutamate is in the range of 3:1or 4:1,a round and soft taste can be achieved. It should be dissolved before adding it as a cold salad. Because the dissolution temperature of monosodium glutamate is 85℃, it is difficult to decompose monosodium glutamate below this temperature. 5. There is no need to put monosodium glutamate in the dishes made from broth, chicken, eggs and aquatic products. 6. Pregnant women and infants should not eat monosodium glutamate because monosodium glutamate may cause fetal defects; Old people and children should not eat too much. People with hypertension will have higher blood pressure if they eat too much monosodium glutamate. Therefore, patients with hypertension should not only limit the intake of salt, but also strictly control the intake of monosodium glutamate.