Some people refuse to mess with tradition, and tweaking the classics can be a real gamble — especially when it comes to pie. But if you’re sick of the same old pumpkin and pecan, slip in a little miso paste and watch as hardline traditionalists and radical pie anarchists alike fight over the last slice.

The more I use miso, the more I become convinced that other flavouring agents are simply not needed. Not only does it render soups, dips and desserts totally addictive, but it makes one heck of a delicious marinade.

"Umami", also known as "the fifth taste", is a flavour that is kind of hard to describe. It's savoury, but not salty, though it is usually accompanied by salt. It's been described as "meaty", "mushroom-y" and "brothy", but I prefer to describe it as "that flavour that makes you eat an entire bag of Doritos in one sitting".

I love a good salad dressing. I also love a good dip, and I adore a good marinade. As fate would have it, Munchies has a recipe for an easy-to-prepare elixir that performs perfectly as all three.

If you want that store-bought broth to taste more like it was homemade, all you need is a little miso.

Miso is a wonderfully salty paste made from fermented soybeans that packs a ton of savoury, umami flavour into a teaspoon. It's most commonly used in miso soup, but the funky seasoning can be used in a variety of delicious applications, from chip dips and sandwich spreads, to caramels and cake frostings.

Nothing quite hits the spot like a piping hot bowl of miso soup, but plopping a large glob of the soybean paste into dashi broth can leave you with lumps floating about.