Nutritional Yeast Demystified
What is nutritional yeast, anyway?
In Portland, you can find nutritional yeast (aka vegetarian food yeast) at almost every restaurant catering to a vegetarian clientele. It’s a funky orange-yellow color and can range from a fine powder to larger flakes. It smells a bit yeasty, a bit nutty and a bit cheesy, but what’s the deal? What is this funky ‘hippie dust’? (Truly, I have seen it called that before.)
Nutritional yeast, which is not to be confused with Active Dry Yeast or Brewer’s Yeast, is a deactivated form of the microorganism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The yeast is pasteurized and placed in a dryer to deactivate the yeast and bring out its nutritional properties. The yeast, which is gluten free, has a flavor reminiscent of cheese and is rich in amino acids, B-complex vitamins, niacin, folic acid, zinc, selenium and thiamine. Bob’s Red Mill’s nutritional yeast has been fortified with vitamin B-12, as well. Nutritional yeast is popular with vegetarians and vegans whose diets can be deplete of B-complex vitamins, especially B-12.
Nutritional yeast won’t make your bread rise or your beer ferment, but it is excellent sprinkled over popcorn and pizza. It can be added to breading for tofu or meat to increase the flavor and nutritional value of the food. The yeast is also a wonderful addition to gravies and sauces or used to create a non-dairy ‘cheese’ sauce for those who are vegan or who cannot tolerate dairy.
Here are some great recipes for turning this funky dust into something delicious and nutritious!
Nutritional Yeast Cheese Sauce from Bob’s Red Mill
The Best Cheesy Uncheese Sauce from Karina’s Kitchen (gluten free)
Hemp Burgers from Bob’s Red Mill
Best Vegan Macaroni and Cheese (in the world) from VegWeb.com
Old Fashioned Macaroni and Cheese from Flavor Vegan
PDF 11 Responses to “Nutritional Yeast Demystified”
Leave a Reply
Loading ...
Dear Mr. Moore….I am confused but sooo happy to read your comments regarding your nutritional food yeast. My dear little 3 yr. old granddaughter is allergic to dairy, egg and banana (anaphylactic) I discoverd a vegan mac and cheese recipe which contained nutritional food yeast. I rushed to the whole food groc store to discover on the packaging of their nutritional food yeast was printed NOT FOR PEOPLE WITH DAIRY ALLERGY. Later in Loblaws I saw your large flake nutritional food yeast, it did not have the warning on it. I bought it, thought I would check with your website and find by the comments on your site that it is a great substitute for people with dairy allergies. I am so excited but still a little nervous about going ahead with this product. Can you advise me further. I appreciate your input as I am desperate to find food this little one can tolerate. Respectfully Marion M.
Dear Mr. Moore..I am confused but soo happy to read your comments regarding your nutritional food yeast. My dear little 3 yr. old granddaugther is allergic to dairy, egg and banana (anaphylactic) I discovered a vegan mac and cheese recipe which contained nutritional food yeast. I rushed to the whole food groc. store to discover on the packaging of their nutritional food yeast was printed NOT FOR PEOPLE WITH DAIRY ALLERGY. Later in Loblaws I saw your large flake nutritional food yeast, it did not have the warning on it. I bought it, thought I would check with your website and I find by the comments on your site that it is a great substitute for people with dairy allergies. I am so excited but still a little nervous about going ahead with this product. Can you advise me further. I appreciate your input as I am desperate to find food this little one can tolerate. Respectfully Marion M
@Marion Nutritional Yeast is fine for people with dairy allergies. It could be that the brand you were looking at with the warning is produced in a facility or shared lines with dairy products. Our nutritional yeast is produced in a facility that does not use any dairy products. There are no dairy containing ingredients in our Nutritional Yeast and it does make an awesome cheese substitute for things like mac-n-cheese. This website is a wonderful resource for information, food lists and recipes: http://www.godairyfree.org/
Hi,
I am wondering how your yeast is dried. At what temperature? Thanks so much for your reply.
I hope you are doing well.
Hi Angel,
Our Nutritional Yeast is processed at temperatures above 212°F. The Nutritional Yeast is pasteurized and placed in a drum dryer to de-activate the yeast to get the nutritional properties. For more info, please contact our customer service team at 800-349-2173.
Is your nutritional yeast potato free?
Danielle,
Yes, our nutritional yeast is potato free. We do package potato flour and potato starch in our gluten free facility, but we clean the lines well between each run. Please contact our amazing customer service staff for more info: 800-349-2173
I am allergic to baker’s and brewer’s yeast… will that mean I’m probably allergic to nutritional yeast as well?
I would imagine that you would be, but I can’t say for sure. I’m sorry that we can’t give you a more definitive answer.
I have gluten and corn allergies. Is Nutritional Yeast derived from either of those?
Megan,
Our Nutritional Yeast is not derived from corn or gluten.