Nearly McCormick's — Homemade Umami Seasoning Recipe

McCormick's All-Purpose Umami Seasoning with Mushrooms and Onions costs €22.87 for 100g. I have never tried it. I have, however, made my own homemade umami seasoning recipe — and at a fraction of the price, built from what's actually available in rural Andalucía, it delivers exactly what it promises: deep, savoury, mushroom-forward umami that makes everything taste more of itself.

The key ingredient is Trompette de la Mort — Trumpet of Death — a wild black mushroom from France that I keep in the store cupboard. Ground to a fine powder in the spice grinder, it brings an earthy, intensely savoury depth that I suspect outperforms whatever dried mushroom McCormick uses in the original. I wouldn't know. But I'm not complaining.

What Is Umami Seasoning?

Umami is the fifth taste — savoury, deep, and hard to pin down. It's the thing that makes a good stock taste like a good stock, that makes mushrooms on toast more satisfying than they have any right to be, that makes you go back for another forkful before you've finished the first. Glutamates are the science; Trompette de la Mort powder, onion, mustard and thyme are the practical reality.

A dry umami seasoning blend is simply a concentrated, shelf-stable version of those flavours — ready to reach for whenever a dish needs a savoury lift without adding liquid.

A Note on the Trompette de la Mort

My Trompettes are black — dried wild mushrooms from France, intensely flavoured and a little smoky. A mushroom called the Trumpet of Death is doing the heavy lifting in a spice blend. I can live with that.

Before grinding, I cleaned the spice grinder by running a small handful of basmati rice through it — I'd previously used it for garam masala and didn't want any residual warmth crossing into the blend. The rice absorbs the lingering spice and leaves the grinder neutral. Standard practice, but worth stating.

Dried shiitake powder would be the conventional choice for a blend like this. At €5.19 for 15g online it stays on the shelf. The Trompette does a better job anyway.

The Homemade Umami Seasoning Recipe — Makes 50g

This is a dry blend. Vegemite or a good beef stock cube is added at the point of use — not incorporated into the jar. That keeps the blend shelf-stable indefinitely and lets you choose your activation depending on the dish.

• 20g Trompette de la Mort powder (ground from dried mushrooms)
• 12.5g onion powder
• 7.5g fine sea salt
• 5g Nearly Colman's mustard powder
• 2.5g dried thyme
• 1.5g red pepper flakes
• 1g garlic powder

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly until the colour is even — the Trompette powder will turn the blend a deep, dark grey-brown. Store in a small airtight jar. It keeps indefinitely.

How to Use It

Add ½–1 teaspoon to soups, stews, broths, and sauces for instant savoury depth. Use as a dry rub for chicken, pork, or lamb before roasting. Sprinkle over roasted vegetables — potatoes, mushrooms, aubergine — before they go in the oven. Stir into rice, couscous, or bulgur. Finish scrambled eggs or an omelette with a pinch.

For the activation — a small knob of Vegemite stirred into the pan at the finish adds the yeast extract depth that rounds the blend out. A crumbled beef stock cube does the same job for meat-based dishes. Either works. Neither goes in the jar.

In the Pan

The first dish I made with this blend was a chicken and turkey stir fry — peppers, courgettes, onion and carrot, the blend going in early, Nearly Hoisin Sauce through the middle, and a small knob of Vegemite stirred in at the finish. The savoury depth was exactly what I was after. The Trompette earthiness came through clearly without dominating. It tasted, in the best possible way, like something that had been cooking for longer than it had.

At €22.87, McCormick's can keep theirs.

This homemade umami seasoning recipe is part of the Nearly Series – cupboard classics made from scratch in a Spanish kitchen.
It also features in my Mushroom Recipes collection.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper condiments, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef