Everyday Systems

I honestly know very little about it (read a bit on the web) but I was eating my yogurt with flaxseed when the homehealth nurse was her for the hubby this morning.

She said Oh, I love flaxseed. She said, I also love brewer's yeast on popcorn - it replaces the salt and the butter!

What the heck?

Gotta check it out.

I've always thought it sounded gross. And just why would I want to replace butter and salt?

Hmm, good point. It was twenty something bucks for a pound so I think I will go into GNC or somewhere and see if I can get a sample.

Or just go to the movies and eat some popcorn. Can't wait for the new Johnny Depp movie.

I am a big fan of Nutritional yeast. I love it. I use it every day

I buy it in bulk for $7.00 a pound from EarthFare Super Market but you should be able to find it in bulk at any health/natural food store

The type I buy has a buttery, cheesy taste. The flakes are rather big so a little goes a long way. I suggest you buy enough of it to try on popcorn before you invest in a pound. All nutritional yeast does NOT taste the same. The EarthFare brand is exceptionally good and I understand that Red Star Nutritional yeast is excellent also.

Nutritional yeast is very rich in the natural B-Vitamins, and Amino Acids. It is a complete protein, plus trace minerals. It is also low in fat and sodium; you could live on it alone as a protein supplement.

I use it as a substitute for parmesan cheese. I love it on popcorn. It is much better than plain popcorn and since it does not have the fat content of the fake movie butter, I get to enjoy more popcorn!

I also use it on French fries and in mashed potatoes; I sprinkle it on broccoli, cauliflower, and other steamed veggies. I use it in my scrambled eggs and I sprinkle it on warm Ezekiel bread for breakfast.

Wow, sounds good. Thanks. I will check it out, I will probably enjoy it as I eat all of the foods you mentioned.

And, in the past, I probably ate them all at once.

I must try this out too, in my vegan days everyone raved about this being a vegan staple food, but I could never find small enough amounts to try (didn't want to buy a huge bulk container and then not like it). I've heard it is a good source of protein and minerals as well as being a good cheese substitute.

I wonder if it tastes similar to marmite? (a dark brewers yeast spread we have in the UK) I can probably attribute my entire teenage growth spurt to cheese and marmite sandwiches

A cookbook that I have, How It All Vegan, has a recipe for a cheesy sauce that can be used with pasta, baked potatoes, vegetables, etc. that is made with nutritional yeast. We mixed it with some broccoli and put it on baked potatoes, and we also mixed some with Ro-tel (diced tomatoes and peppers in a can) for a dip. It was all pretty tasty. It seems to be quite versatile, but that's the only time I've used it.

Ahhh, Marmite. You have brought back a memory

Nutritional yeast does not share Marmite's unique flavor, but it does share its nutritional values.

Marmite is not a big favorite in the US, very hard to find and expensive if you do. In my travels, I spent a bit of time in London and acquired a taste for Marmite on toast. I will have to order another jar and add it to my rotation of morning treats

I can't get any of my family or friends to touch the stuff, but I Love it

Vegemite for the win! It's so full of salt though I can't even pretend to myself it's healthy. I sure do enjoy it (in moderation) though.

Just noticed this posting.

I use nutritional yeast flakes almost everyday. I think of it as a FOOD, not a supplement. I like it in scrambled tofu, along with some turmeric for color and taste. Lately, I've been craving that a lot, so probably 4 out of 7 breakfasts feature it. I also love nutritional yeast sprinkled on rice or pasta. Like others have stated here, I buy it in bulk at the natural foods store.

Personally, the idea of it stirred into yogurt doesn't appeal to me, since I associate it with a savory taste. But, each to his or her taste.

When I was vegan, I tried it as a cheesy taste on various things. Ugh. All I could taste was intense yeast. It was so distasteful to me that I stopped making my own bread, because all I could taste was the yeast.

I'm back on homemade bread now, but I would never try nutritional yeast again.

I'm not a 'super-taster,' so I don't even detect a yeast taste in nutritional yeast. I also don't think of nutritional yeast as 'cheezy' either, but I've heard others describe it that way. I like it on its own, but I can imagine others thinking of it as an 'acquired taste.'

In any event, that's the nice thing about our lush food supply. No food is vital to our health, so it's a matter of finding what it is you like. In many respects, I think dietary diversity is the best thing for health. (Spoken from someone who doesn't tolerate wheat much after a long time of overdoing it.)

I was told that Brewer's yeast and nutritional yeast are a bit different. The Brewer's yeast I found was brownish and the nutritional yeast is buttery yellow. Nutritional yeast is the stuff most commonly used to make vegan cheezes.

This is kind of off-topic, but isn't yeast made up of little organisms? If so, how come it's vegan? Or is it one of those things where some vegans think it's okay and some don't?

Well, they're bacteria. They aren't even in the same taxonomical kingdom as humans and animals. But I've wondered that too, if there are vegans who object to yeast on those grounds.

They're actually fungi. So if you have a clear conscience about eating mushrooms, you should be fine eating this.

Though I think mushrooms taste (and smell!) much better.

They are fascinating little critters, though.

Link from my day job:

http://www.broadinstitute.org/annotatio ... /Info.html

And I'm VERY fond of the beverage they'll used to make.

Reinhard

Interesting! I had no idea they were fungi. I guess you can't really argue with eating fungi. I always thought they were more like amoebas or something (not really, but you know). Fungi to me are firmly in the vegetable kingdom.