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What is Nutritional Yeast and How Do You Use It?

by | Aug 24, 2022 | Fantastic Food | 0 comments

I have heard about nutritional yeast off and on for the last few years, and I’ve even been served this ingredient as a part of a larger recipe I once tried. Still, I’ve never known exactly what it is.  Now that it seems to be going through another wave of popularity, apparently under the nickname “nooch”, I’ve decided that it’s about time to inform myself. And if I’m going to go to all the effort to get this right, then I’m going to take a minute to share what I learn with you too.

What is Nutritional Yeast?

Nutritional yeast (I just can’t get in to calling it nooch yet” has been around since the 1950s and was a hit in the next couple of decades among the hippies.  Since that time, it has gone up and down in popularity, mainly sticking to plant-based trends.  It’s usually chosen for the umami it brings to a dish’s flavors, on top of the helpful hit of essential nutrients it contains.

At its most basic form, nooch (nope, just tried it, but don’t like it) is a nutritional yeast species called Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  It’s the same stuff that is used in making beer, wine and bread. That said, in this form, it’s inactive.  This deactivation happens by heating and drying it, which is also what gives it its distinct toasty and nutty flavor.  It’s sold in jars of small crumbled up flakes. Its appearance somewhat reminds me of what I once fed goldfish.

Packed with Umami

The umami flavor the nutritional yeast provides to your dishes is because of its glutamic acid (also known as glutamate) content.  That substance is produced as a result of the heating and drying process.  The yeast’s cellular protein starts to break down, releasing the amino acids they contain. Glutamic acid is one of those amino acids.

I’ve heard it described as somewhat like parmesan cheese. While I wouldn’t say that their flavors are identical, they are pretty close, but without any sharpness at all.  It’s a much milder and rounder flavor.  It doesn’t taste like egg yolk or roasted crispy chicken skin, but they have the same kind of mild and roundness, if that makes any sense at all. As you can see, I struggle intensely to be able to describe flavors.

Using Nutritional Yeast

You can pretty much use nutritional yeast in whatever recipe you want.  To keep that parmesan cheese comparison going, you really can add it to most of the same dishes to add that hit of umami.  So, this means that it’s great on salads, pasta, and roasted veggies. I’ve heard of some people putting it on their popcorn or as a flavor-enhancing soup thickener.

So that’s what I’ve learned about nutritional yeast – that, and I really like it – so I hope this encourages you to try it too!

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Most of Us Think we’re Making Far Better Healthy Food Choices Than We Are

I like to think that I’m making some healthy food choices, for the most part. I know my diet isn’t perfect. I don’t even aim for perfect. I’d have to give up too much of my favorite treats to get to that point. I don’t even think that focusing too much on nutrition is great for your overall wellbeing. A bit of fun has its place now and then. That said, according to this new study I’ve read, we Americans think we’re doing far better than we are, and it’s really holding us back!

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I’d heard about the need for a calorie deficit about a million times before I actually looked into what it was. Now, I understand that the name pretty much explains what it is. I got it on the most basic level. If I wanted to lose weight, I needed to burn more calories than I was taking in. That said, when it comes to putting things into practice, the situation became less obvious to me. I admit that it took freaking forever for me to actually look it up.

What Exactly is a Calorie Deficit for Weight Loss?

What Exactly is a Calorie Deficit for Weight Loss?

I’d heard about the need for a calorie deficit about a million times before I actually looked into what it was. Now, I understand that the name pretty much explains what it is. I got it on the most basic level. If I wanted to lose weight, I needed to burn more calories than I was taking in. That said, when it comes to putting things into practice, the situation became less obvious to me. I admit that it took freaking forever for me to actually look it up.

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Top 3 Reasons Not to Get Nutrition Advice from Influencers

I absolutely love helpful nutrition advice. The thing I need to remind myself to do more often is to watch my sources. I’m careful, to a certain extent. For example, if I look something up, I’ll definitely pay close attention to the quality of the links I click. If I see advice on a personal blog or on Harvard Health’s site, I’ll definitely consider the latter to be more reliable than the former. It’s not any old person on the internet is wrong, it’s just that some organizations have more street cred.

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