Glutamic acid, or its sodium salt, in crystalline form is prepared from a fermented must containing glutamic acid by the steps of: subjecting the must to ultrafiltration to provide a permeate and a retained product, hydrolysing the retained product with a concentrated acid, filtering the product obtained by hydrolysis to obtain an acidic juice as filtrate, and mixing at least a portion of the acidic juice with the permeate to effect crystallization of the glutamic acid therefrom. The resultant crystalline glutamic acid may be purified, and converted to its sodium salt, which may then itself be crystallized.
