What is the difference between chicken essence and MSG

People often say: "Life is about firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea." But if you want to live an interesting life and eat delicious meals, seasoning is essential. But which one is better, MSG or chicken stock, and which one is more suitable for cooking? This question is a matter of opinion. But many people know very little about the difference between chicken essence and MSG.

In daily life, many people choose chicken essence or MSG because of habit or personal preference. Then many people say that eating too much MSG is bad for the human body and will cause hair loss. What is the difference between the two? Let’s take a look at the following.

MSG was invented by the Japanese. Its advertising slogan in China in the early days was very exaggerated, called "turning clear water into chicken soup." For those with limited income, it is a great attraction.

Later, MSG became a must-have item for Chinese people at home. It is added to everything to make it fresh. The Sichuanese are probably the ones who add the most MSG when eating hotpot. Each person has a small bowl of sesame oil at the table, and there are always two small cans in the corner of the table, one of which is salt and the other is MSG. When guests sit down, people are always very careful when adding salt for fear of accidentally adding too much; when pouring MSG, they have fewer concerns and just pour it into the bowl with great force. After stirring evenly, they take out the chopsticks, put it into their mouths, lick it with their tongue flexibly to get the flavor, and then eat with heartiness.

Since the 1980s, there have been more and more rumors about the negative effects of MSG. Moreover, many foreigners really don't eat MSG and will repeatedly remind the waiters to avoid it every time they go to a restaurant.

In the early 1990s, news came that people had already switched to chicken essence. According to reliable statistics, to date, in the United States, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea and Hong Kong, the consumption ratio of chicken essence to MSG is 85% to 15%, with the majority of people consuming chicken essence. In 1987, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization's Food Additives Regulatory Committee abolished the regulations that limited the consumption of MSG based on years of testing on MSG. In 1999, my country also conducted a rigorous toxicity test on MSG. Experts tell us that experiments have shown that there is generally no problem for a person to eat 50 grams, 100 grams or 200 grams a day.

MSG is the first generation of food flavor enhancers. In our country, it started in 1922 at the Shanghai Tianchu MSG Factory and has a history of nearly 80 years. The main ingredient of MSG is monosodium glutamate, and the main production process is to extract it through rice, corn and other grains or molasses by microbial fermentation. Based on the content of monosodium glutamate, there are two main types of MSG on the market. One is 80° MSG, which contains 80% sodium glutamate; the other is 99° MSG, which contains 99.9% sodium glutamate, also known as pure MSG or salt-free MSG. That is to say, once MSG reaches 99 degrees, it reaches a limit and is unlikely to increase any further.

In the early 1980s, people discovered that something called nucleic acid could also enhance the freshness of MSG. After mixing MSG and nucleic acid in a proper proportion, the second generation of flavor-enhancing products was miraculously discovered, which were named "King of Umami", "Extra Umami MSG", "Special Umami MSG", etc. The second-generation products are much fresher than traditional ones. Taking the freshness of 99° MSG as 100, the second-generation flavor enhancers have products with different freshness levels such as 120°, 150°, 200°, and 400°, meeting people's different pursuits of freshness.

If we only look at it from a commercial marketing perspective, chicken essence defeating MSG is a very successful case. When chicken essence appeared, merchants promoted the idea that "MSG is harmful" on the one hand, and advocated the "naturalness" of chicken essence on the other. Just from the name, "chicken essence" has an advantage over "MSG". So until today, there are still many people who believe that "industrially synthesized MSG has various harmful effects" and "natural chicken essence is nutritious."

In fact, MSG is not industrially synthesized. The original MSG was found in kelp soup and was later produced through grain fermentation. There is no essential difference between its production methods and those of traditional foods such as soy sauce, wine, rice wine, etc. Its chemical structure is monosodium glutamate, and various proteins generally contain glutamic acid, which will form monosodium glutamate when released by hydrolysis. Typical examples are soy sauce, fermented black beans, cheese, etc. Some foods naturally contain free glutamate, which gives them a natural "umami taste". Typical examples include kelp, potatoes, peas, etc. In fact, foods like seaweed and cheese naturally contain more MSG than people often put in other dishes.

The saying that "MSG is harmful" has always existed, and there are indeed many people who believe that "eating too much MSG will do such and such things." The most bizarre statement was published in a very famous medical journal in 1968. These legendary hazards have almost all been carefully studied, but none of them can be reproduced. What this means in scientific research is that the dangers of legends are unreliable. On the other hand, there are also experimental results in academic research that "large amounts of MSG are harmful to mice", but the "large amounts" there generally refer to eating pure MSG or the MSG content in food being as high as 10 to 20 percent. This is completely different from what we usually say, "too much MSG in the dish."

Based on these scientific research conclusions, the academic community and relevant departments of various countries now believe that MSG in food is harmless to health. Even the European Union, which is very conservative when it comes to food safety, lists MSG as the safest category.

In addition to MSG's ability to produce "umami", scientists have discovered that some nucleotides not only produce umami themselves, but can also increase the umami many times when used with MSG. They are called "flavor nucleotides" and were first isolated from shiitake mushrooms and dried fish. The key ingredients of chicken essence are "monosodium glutamate" and "flavor nucleotides", which have nothing to do with chicken. As for the other ingredients, they are just embellishments. In the early days, some chicken powder was added to chicken essence, so that it could be called "chicken essence" with a clear conscience. In fact, chicken powder contributes very little to the taste of chicken essence. Later on, the proportion added became smaller and smaller, which made it more like "using a chicken head to sell MSG".

Generally speaking, MSG and chicken stock are actually the same thing, but the taste of chicken stock is richer. If you like their taste, you don’t have to worry about being “harmful to your health”; if you don’t like them, you don’t have to force yourself. They do not provide any nutrition. Although the name of chicken essence implies "the essence of chicken".

The above is a brief introduction about the difference between chicken essence and MSG. In fact, both chicken essence and MSG are daily condiments. These seasonings can only increase the deliciousness of dishes, but cannot provide the nutrients needed by the body. Therefore, just use the right amount of chicken essence and MSG, don't use too much.