Nutritional Yeast - not just for vegans!
"Vegan cheese flavour". Perhaps you’ve heard this term used about nutritional yeast. However, the product is much more than an alternative to cheese for vegans.
You can use yeast flakes as a culinary spice in a wide variety of dishes – with or without meat – to add the special umami flavour. By mixing yeast flakes with other spices, you can create your very own delicious blend.
In addition to the yummy taste, you may also use the nutritional yeast flakes as a source of protein. 100 g of yeast contains 46 g of protein. Add to that, 22 g dietary fibres, 19 g carbohydrates and only 4.2 g of fat per 100 g. You may already have figured out that nutritional yeast contains less fat than most cheeses…
What is nutritional yeast?
But do you know what nutritional yeast really is?
Nutritional yeast is produced by cultivating the fungus used for baker’s yeast, called Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which feeds on sugar beet molasses. The heat treatment to which the yeast is subjected after cultivation makes it inactive, i.e., useless as a leavening agent.
The fact that the cultivated fungus feeds on beet molasses makes it gluten-free. In addition, yeast flakes are non-allergenic so you can feed your family, friends or colleagues without worrying about allergic reactions.
Some people say that nutritional yeast looks like fish feed because of the very thin, flaky nature. However, the colour is different; in contrast to fish feed, yeast flakes could be confused with grated Parmesan cheese.
When you open your packet of nutritional yeast, you may think that it was not filled to capacity. However, it WAS but during transportation the yeast flakes will compress and thus take up less space in the container. Consequently, we have to use the current container size to make sure that you get the correct quantity.
Natur-Drogeriet carry two types of yeast flakes: