 The form is the one most widely occurring in nature, but the form occurs in some special contexts, such as the cell walls of the bacteria (which can manufacture it from the form with the enzyme glutamate racemase) and the liver of mammals.Although they occur naturally in many foods, the flavor contributions made by glutamic acid and other amino acids were only scientifically identified early in the twentieth century.The substance was discovered and identified in the year 1866, by the German chemist Karl Heinrich Ritthausen who treated wheat gluten (for which it was named) with sulfuric acid.