Nutritional Yeast
Sometimes good foods can come from unexpected sources. Nutritional yeast would be just such an example.
Yeast doesn’t sound like such a great thing to eat. Maybe because most people associate it with beer brewing. Additionally, some types of yeast can cause health problems, not to mention yeast extract products like Marmite which are not everybody’s cup of tea.
Yeast itself is a single cell organism, which actually belongs to the fungus kingdom, so in some respects can be thought of as being in the same category of living things as mushrooms. Sounds tastier already!
There are many different types of yeast and only some are harmful, so fears over the dangers of eating yeast can be quickly allayed as well. The type of yeast which is generally used in food is called, ‘Saccharomyces cerevisiae’. It can be added to bread dough to make it rise or to liquids to cause them to ferment, the main process in producing alcoholic beverages, but can also be used to produce other non-alcoholic drinks by stopping the process sooner, before the alcohol has formed. This fermentation is caused by the yeast organisms breaking down carbohydrates and eventually producing ethanol out of them.
Yeast extract products on the other hand involve heating yeast until the yeast cells break apart and then digest themselves via their own cell enzymes, eventually resulting various yeast spreads. Once again this is a harmless form of yeast, as long as those consuming it can stand the rather strong flavour!
From a cheese point of view, the version of yeast product that is interesting is called, ‘nutritional yeast’. This is also made by heating the yeast, although in a more controlled way, just enough to deactivate the yeast cells, but not destroy them. The product is then dried giving rise to a flaky substance. This can then be sprinkled as a flavouring on all sorts of different foods. The taste is strong and cheesy thus making nutritional yeast a good option for vegan cheese lovers or those looking for a health alternative to parmesan cheese.
There is a second benefit to using nutritional yeast and that is to do with its nutritional content. Nutritional yeast has many nutritional claims to fame and the list of the goodies that it contains is long.
We’ve got good amounts of trace minerals copper, chromium and selenium.
It is a great source of B vitamins, especially B1, B2, B3 and B6, not to mention B12 (which is not naturally occurring, but it is often fortified with it). Iron, manganese, magnesium, potassium, sulphur and inositol and choline can also all be found.
Yeast is usually 50 to 60 % protein and contains no fat. On top of all this, it has the enzymes, glutathione and superoxide dismutase which function as antioxidants. Last but not least, yeast can be made up of up to 6% nucleic acids.
The manufacturing process can also add nutrients to the nutritional yeast. As mentioned above, it is often fortified with B12. In order to obtain it, the nutritional yeast is often grown on sugar beets, from which it absorbs nutrients, before being harvested, heated and dried, ready for use.
Reading all this has probably started to prick your interest and help you understand why nutritional yeast is good to use as a cheese alternative.
It is suitable for vegans as it is not animal based and indeed some consider it to be a plant. One of the challenges of not eating animal products is how to obtain the necessary proteins in one’s diet. This is often attempted by eating vegetable proteins but certain amino acids, such as Lysine and tryptophan can be low in many non-animal proteins. However, as already mentioned, nutritional yeast is a good protein source and its proteins are high quality, rich in amino acids. Thus, it can be a good way for vegans to get their necessary dose of some amino acids. Of course, the health benefits of nutritional yeast are open to all to take advantage of, but it can be particularly useful to those who otherwise don’t consume cheese or other animal products.
Nutritional yeast can be bought as flakes or a gritty powder, the use of which depends on personal preference. There is also a fortified and unfortified kind. The advantage of the fortified one is that it contains vitamin B12, but it has less iron than the unfortified one, so one tip might be to buy both and then mix them.
One other piece of advise which is relevant not only to nutritional yeast, but in general to food consumption, especially when we are taking about a flavouring which also serves as a nutritional supplement like nutritional yeast, is that it good to add a little to different foods over the course of the day. This is because our bodies absorb nutrients in limited quantities so rather than consuming lots in one good, it is important to eat them regularly.
An often-cited example of the use of nutritional yeast is to flavour popcorn. This is indeed a good option, but more generally it can be used as an alternative to parmesan in many different contexts.
The name doesn’t sound so appetising, but as we have seen the potential nutritional benefits combined with the fact that this is actually a safe yeast to consume (other yeasts are responsible for some potential health problems) make this a good product to use as a flavouring, offering vegans especially (not to mention the rest of us!) the opportunity to enjoy something resembling the taste of grated hard Italian cheese, whilst also delivery a number of different nutrients.
Having said all this, one cloud that can be raised is that nutritional yeast contains glutamic acid. There is some controversy around this as it is often used in the form of monosodium glutamate to flavour foods. It has been claimed that this can have negative health effects, but this remains to be seen and could be claimed of a whole host of foods if eaten in excess. Thus, the best approach to nutritional yeast, as with other flavourings, is all things in moderation!
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