Homemade MSG

Recently I seemed to get a migraine from my wife's homemade beef soup. How could that be? Everything was made from scratch including the broth. And she left out ingredients like onions that we knew were triggers. Shannon decided to get help from her friend who is a scientist. The following is her friend's helpful explanation of how MSG can sometimes be "homemade."

"The act of preparing homemade soup is the hydrolysis of meat. That process, if carried far enough, breaks down the proteins in the meat to single amino acids. One of those amino acids found in meat is glutamate or glutamic acid (MSG). I think soup can still be on the menu, but you may want to limit how long the meat is cooked, or start with a vegitable stock and add the meat late in cooking. There are a lot of process parameters that you can try to change (salt content, heat, duration), but then you husband is going to be a Guinea Pig, and he may not appreciate that.

When making a vegetable stock, you made want to go light on the onions, they contain tyramine and are known to be a migrane trigger. Leeks or shallots are a good substitute.

Here is an excerpt from a website Truth in Labeling, that backs up my point.

The second way of producing MSG is through breakdown of protein, i.e., processed free glutamic acid (MSG) is created when protein is either partially or fully broken apart into its constituent amino acids. A protein can be broken into its constituent amino acids in a number of ways (autolysis, hydrolysis, enzymolysis, and/or fermentation). When a protein is subject to autolysis, hydrolysis, enzymolysis, and/or fermentation, the amino acid chains in the protein are broken, and the amino acids are freed. Acids, enzymes, and/or fermentation processes may be used to create MSG in this way.

I feel bad for you, because it is a lot of work preparing homemade meals every meal. I only worry about dinner. In the end, your family is going to benefit from you hard work. You and your husband will age more gracefully, and the list of benefits for your children is so long I am not going to try to list them. You are an awesome Mom! So many Mom's would rather just give their family pills, you are doing the right thing."

I can only add a big "amen" to her praise of my wife. She works so hard to cook good food for me and our family. But sadly, I have to pass on her excellent beef soup in the future.