What is nutritional yeast? what does it taste like?

Question

seems to be thought of as a cheese substitute in recipes??

Answer 1

Nutritional yeast is a yeast culture that has been dried for storage. It has a lot of B complex vitamins which are normally hard for vegetarians to get otherwise.

It tastes kind of bitter by itself, but when mixed with tofu, (about 1-2 tbsp yeast to a pound of tofu), the tofu takes on a very egg-like flavor and color. As such, you can make pretty good faux scrambled eggs or faux egg salad. I can see it being used in recipes to give a cheese-like flavor though.

Answer 2

It is yeast, but it is not active yeast. It has been processed and killed and sold in the form of a yellowish powder or flakes. It is grown on molasses, but the process of separating it from the molasses and processing is a trade secret. I looked it up on the company’s website last year. For those who are not eating cheese, it does smell and taste a bit cheesy. Well, most N. Americans do not even eat what people in other countries would consider to be ‘real’ cheese. I have found that using cashews and nutritional yeast really makes a nice cheesy spread when blended together.

Mostly, in our family, we use it to put on popcorn, or on our rice with some flax oil, etc. for something different. Just a little has quite bit of flavour. Oh, and also, when we make soups, we usually add miso and nutritional yeast, or sea salt and nutritional yeast. Why? Well, it seems that the nutritional yeast has some flavour enhancing properties of some sort which I would compare to chicken in chicken soup. Really. I would say that it’s a great replacement for chicken stock in soup (but add these flavours at the end of cooking when the soup has cooled a bit).

Answer 3

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Answer 4

I'd just like to point out that there are *dozens* of different yeast strains used as N.T. and the taste varies depending on which strain you've got! The 'common' bulk bin N.T. is normally from Red Star (it's cheap to produce) and is the reason a lot of folks automatically go "YUCK" when they hear that something was made with N.T. I'd not too bad when fresh but is usually stale and oxidized by the time you buy it.

Since you're apparently new to N.T. you may want to look to the brands KAL or Bob's Red Mill to start your journey into the world of N.T. Bob's seems to have the lowest 'yuck' factor of the major brands in my experience. Just be sure to grab the bag from the back of the shelf since long term light exposure changes the taste!

You'll notice all the different answer as to taste. I've personally tried over 40 different strains and the taste/aroma range from almost tasteless/odorless, to breadlike, to mild cheesy, to strong cheesy, to vitaminish (also a sign of spoilage), to spicy and even one that reeks of puke! That last ones yeast makes butyric acid and is used in 2 companies vegan Parmesan cheese replacements since butyric acid is what makes Parmesans flavor and also makes puke gross. The spicy ones are used to give a BBQ flavor to a lot of foods.

It's used in some cheese replacement recipes (but not all) since it's high in nutrition and is usually at least a little cheesy. If you're mainly interested in that aspect you may also wish to search for the cashew and tahini 'cheese' recipes.

Answer 5

Yeast is a baceria that converts sugars into complex chemicals such as alcohol. Note that different beers taste different.

It is most likely that your good 'ol cheese substitute will give a cheese flavor. If devoured directly it will probably taste like dirt but as i have not seen the stuff it probably has directions for use.

Answer 6

A whiff of fresh bread is not a bad way to describe it.

To me, it's a very vitamin-y flavour. Ever had a whiff of a bottle of B vitamins...?

It's a nice thing to add to soups for a flavour I can only describe as deeper, more robust, etc, but as for actual cheese taste? Not much. A tenuous connexion at best.

"...has a nutty, slightly sweet flavor that many describe as cheese-like."

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/vegetarian_cooking_lifestyle/64290

Hrm...

And: it's yeast. Dead, tho; it won't leaven anything.

Answer 7

Eliminate Yeast Infection Fast : http://YeastCured.uzaev.com/?UJoH

Answer 8

tastes like yeast it has more b vitamines than baking or brewing yeast but it can be used for either purpose i think.

Answer 9

It's that slightly musky/moldy fungus smell you get a subtle whiff of from fresh bread. That's what it smells like.

Answer 10

You can probably find it in just about any grocery store, and I personally think it's really good on popcorn.