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Vegemite, Marmite, Promite...yeast extract spreads


ChrisTaylor

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Can anyone in Denmark explain to me WHY Marmite has been banned? What is the big deal about "fortified" foods?

Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today. -- Edgar Allan Poe

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Can anyone in Denmark explain to me WHY Marmite has been banned? What is the big deal about "fortified" foods?

I imagine for no other reason than that their politicians feel they can run the citizens' lives better than than the individuals can themselves and the ones in power choose to exert their power to do so even in areas in which they are ill informed (just like everywhere else in the world). Hell, a NY politician just recently tried to get salt banned and banning fortified foods makes a whole lot more sense than that lunacy.

Edited by BadRabbit (log)
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Can anyone in Denmark explain to me WHY Marmite has been banned? What is the big deal about "fortified" foods?

What I said, upthread. Now you may be thinking, 'So, why not regulate what marketers are allowed to say, instead of abolishing something damn tasty?' To which I would have to reply, 'I've no idea.'

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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I learned somewhere, from some cooking guru, that one shouldn't be afraid to put soy sauce into all sort of things you wouldn't normally associate it with. Spaghetti sauce, french onion soup, chili, what ever. One of my favorite marinades for beef has since become, half light soy and half white wine.

No one's ever once said "This tastes Chinese."

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Oh and next time a friend says, "YUK, Marmite! Thats gross!" Inform them that anytime theyve eaten anything with

packaged gravy mix or beef flavor that contains "autolyzed yeast extract", theyve eaten Marmite

Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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Soy sauce is OK, but I think Bragg's 'hides' better.

Cooking 10 weeks of the year for an American vego child in regional Australia was a bit of a challenge back before we had the products she was used to (or anything much except Sanitarium). Scratch cooking for a palate accustomed to the flavours of these things led me to adding her favourite, Bragg's Aminos (outrageous import price), so went to soy sauce (even saltier). Making the dreaded seitan products led to nutritional yeast flakes. Lightbulb moment.

If it had any other salty ingredients, I added yeast flakes, but if I was going to add salt anyway and the colour wasn't out of place, I used Vegemite, Aussie Mite, Promite etc, whatever was in the pantry. As the child concerned suffers from serious Imaginitis, I had to slip it in (or prep for the next day after she went to bed). She didn't know until I 'let' her 'catch' me preparing a favourite dish. I think it is good to challenge the challenged!

I use a lot of different umami rich ingredients for cooking sans the Vego. I add a very little Vegemite to some wet, mainly beefy dishes, but I wouldn't use the yeast spreads in quite a few places e.g. pasted anchovies, not Vegemite in veal and pork meatloaf. Not surprisingly, the Vego's father also suffers from Imaginitis, so I didn't immediately tell him about the anchovies, which he claimed to hate.

Introduced to me by a teenager: toasted fruit bread, butter, Promite, grated tasty (sharp cheddar style) cheese, then under the griller/broiler. Thanks Andrew!

Chris, I'll take your word on the hot chocolate! I do add 1/4 pinch of salt to black coffee. Discovered this when I had only seawater to rinse mugs in. Maybe as you make hot chocolate without milk, a bit of salt would work for you?

The big advantage to Vegemite/Promite IS the salt. Ignore the use by date, it's irrelevant.

Polly

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  • 7 months later...

Puttanesca has recently become my "pantry dish" - a meal I can almost always make from whatever's in the house.

Then I thought - what if I were entertaining vegans? icon_eek.gif

It's never happened. But I was thinking... I could substitute Marmite for the anchovies.

Insane? or... SANE?

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I'm Australian and I haven't tried it. Tend to boost the Umami in my dishes using Heston Blumenthal's suggestion of putting star anise in. I supplement this with dried and powdered shiitake mushroom powder. Will try vegemite in next one.

I am an Australian. I wonder how can an aussie not have tried vegemite? And to add further insult to injury, to suggest that star anise...... to 'spag bol'.....

I am in shock. Maybe with the 26th of January around the corner, you might consider lashing out a little, and head for a jar of Vegemite from your local grocer, rather than the imported jars of other condiments from Jones the Grocer or Simon Johnson.

Happy Australia Day (26th January), and long live the 'mites' in all their glorious forms.

Joel

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I'm Australian and I haven't tried it. Tend to boost the Umami in my dishes using Heston Blumenthal's suggestion of putting star anise in. I supplement this with dried and powdered shiitake mushroom powder. Will try vegemite in next one.

I am an Australian. I wonder how can an aussie not have tried vegemite? And to add further insult to injury, to suggest that star anise...... to 'spag bol'.....

I am in shock. Maybe with the 26th of January around the corner, you might consider lashing out a little, and head for a jar of Vegemite from your local grocer, rather than the imported jars of other condiments from Jones the Grocer or Simon Johnson.

Happy Australia Day (26th January), and long live the 'mites' in all their glorious forms.

Joel

As a flavour booster in cooking, which I thought was the subject of the post.

I have it almost every morning on toast for breakfast.

Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

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I've never purchased Marmite before but when I made bolognese in Zimbabwe I had little choice--it was that or nothing. Turns out, the packaging itself suggests using it as a flavour booster in soups and stews. I don't know if that's something recent or unique to the region or if it's pretty much always been on the Marmite label.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

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Puttanesca has recently become my "pantry dish" - a meal I can almost always make from whatever's in the house.

Then I thought - what if I were entertaining vegans? icon_eek.gif

It's never happened. But I was thinking... I could substitute Marmite for the anchovies.

Insane? or... SANE?

This dish is basically layers of salt and chili accompanied by olive flavours and umami from the tomatoes. Using anchovies gives a fishy, umami and salty layer that complements other components of the dish. Marmite is salty and has even more umami than anchovies so it may fit in with the dish. My suggestion would be to make some without anchovies, which is quite acceptable to serve as many versions of this sauce don't use anchovies at all. Put a bit aside and add marmite a little bit at a time and check the flavour profile. It may work as it shares many of the characters of anchovies but it also contains some additional ones that may not go. Worth a try.

Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

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  • 7 months later...

I've heard of adding a little bit of vegemite or marmite to soups and stews. I haven't tried it yet. Any recommendations?

I add in sauces, stews and soups just helps bring out a little more savoriness. Start with a small amount as it is salty.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Heh. Just put a rump steak in the water bath and was reminded me of this thread. I've tried adding Vegemite to sv bags in the past and it seems to work nicely. Last time I added a tiny dab to ... I think it was blade steak from memory. A tiny, tiny, tiny dab--a closer relative to a generous dash of Angostura bitters in a Manhattan than a heaped teaspoon of sugar in someone's morning coffee--went in with the usual salt, pepper, ev olive oil. It really seemed to boost the umami. Then again, maybe that piece of beef (which was from a supermarket's organic line, granted, so it's not like it was expensive dry-aged stuff or anything) was just especially beefy. So I'm conducting the experiment again. A tiny dash of Vegemite in with a ~800g rump 'roast' for 30 hours at 55C. There's nothing else in there aside from salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Obviously I went easy on the salt given Vegemite itself is salty.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

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Heh. Just put a rump steak in the water bath and was reminded me of this thread. I've tried adding Vegemite to sv bags in the past and it seems to work nicely. Last time I added a tiny dab to ... I think it was blade steak from memory. A tiny, tiny, tiny dab--a closer relative to a generous dash of Angostura bitters in a Manhattan than a heaped teaspoon of sugar in someone's morning coffee--went in with the usual salt, pepper, ev olive oil. It really seemed to boost the umami. Then again, maybe that piece of beef (which was from a supermarket's organic line, granted, so it's not like it was expensive dry-aged stuff or anything) was just especially beefy. So I'm conducting the experiment again. A tiny dash of Vegemite in with a ~800g rump 'roast' for 30 hours at 55C. There's nothing else in there aside from salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Obviously I went easy on the salt given Vegemite itself is salty.

Why not cut the piece in half and cook one half with Vegemite and the other without. Looking forward to the results.

Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

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