The invention provides an efficient method for producing a high quality umami-active tomato fraction, said process comprising the steps of: a. providing a tomato serum b. separating the tomato serum into two or more portions, including a lycopene-depleted portion and a lycopene-enriched portion c. concentrating the lycopene-depleted portion to at least 10° Brix d. chromatographically fractionating the concentrated lycopene-depleted portion into two or more fractions, including a crude umami fraction with a weight ratio glutamate:monosaccharide of X and a monosaccharide fraction with a weight ratio glutamate:monosaccharide of Y, wherein the ratio X:Y exceeds 20 e. optionally, concentrating the crude umami fraction f. chromatographically fractionating the crude umami fraction into two or more fractions, including a clean umami fraction with a weight ratio glutamate:citrate of K and a citrate fraction with a weight ratio glutamate:citrate of L, wherein the ratio K:L exceeds 10. The invention further relates to a tomato isolate comprising glutamate, aspartate and sucrose wherein the weight ratio glutamate:citrate exceeds 2 and wherein glutamate, 5′-AMP, aspartate and pyroglutamate together represent at least 15 wt. % of the dry matter contained in the tomato isolate.
