Barmy For The Marmy (my cat is) (Marmite)

Member Name: flutel

Product:	Marmite
Date:	01/08/09 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Distinctive, Nutritional, Recyclable jar

Disadvantages: Marmitalade

I have been following, with interest, the Dooyoo survey on Marmite (2 reviews prior to this one) and it seems that, at the moment, I am in a minority - liking this product. Marmite have cleverly used this as a selling point in its advertising - blatantly declaring that you either love or hate it. It is a bold move to advertise a product's negative points (Pot Noodle does this also).

Marmite also has it's own website: www.marmite.co.uk which promotes the polarity of the himan population in relation to marmite (you enter the site via love or hate links!).


History of Marmite
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Marmite is made from brewers yeast that has been used to turn sugar into alcohol - so it is, essentially, a by-product. It used to be chucked out as waste until a Dutch scientist, Leouwanhoek, examined the used brewer's yeast with a microscope and discovered it was made of tiny cells. The French scientist Louis Pasteur then realised these cells were in fact living plants. These scientists had not so much discovered yeast (or Marmite), but discovered its potential nutritional benefits.

Later, a German scientist called Liebig discovered that brewer's yeast cells could be concentrated, bottled and eaten but it was in 1902 that the Marmite Food Company (later Marmite Ltd) was set up in Burton on Trent.

Ingredients
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Yeast Extract, Salt, Vegetable Extract, Niacin, Thiamin, Spice Extracts, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Celery Extract, Vitamin B12

The essential ingredients of Marmite are mostly hugely beneficial to health. The Vit B12 and Folic acid are useful for keeping homocystiene levels in the body down (too much homosystiene in the body = poor health - especially heart health). Thiamin helps keep the central nervous system healthy - too little of it can cause the disease, Beriberi - which would have an impact on the cardiovascular system in the body.

As a vegan, the vitamin B12 is difficult to find unless I am chomping down on seaweed (which is not a bad idea just not a popular foodstuff in Blighty) so Brewers Yeast- being a substance that contains it is a useful addition to the diet.

Per serving, it contains 0.43g of salt (a serving is small). This is a salty product.

Price
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It lasts quite a while in my household so is worth the price and is value for money. It is £2.43 for 250g and £1.20 for 125g at Tesco. It is actually cheaper to buy the smaller jar. I hate it when that happens, however, this is could be an indicator that more people buy the smaller jars - they have made ithem slightly more competitive..

Appearance
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The spread is blacky and could be described as a liquid although it is not too mobile. It remains on the end of your knife as long as you are not pointing the knife downwards to too long. Not many foods are black - this may account for some people's abhorance - colour is very important when it comes to what animals (inc us) eat.

Taste
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This spread has a distinctive taste which is hard to describe: it is intense and salty - setting off all those specific taste buds on the tongue. It does retain a taste of the yeast that formed it in the brewing process, having a vaguely fungal quality. It is a taste that lingers after you have done the last swallow - and often prompts you to have a drink afterwards (the salt probably).

In reality, a person needs to taste this for him/herself. This prompts me to write that my cat also likes Marmite and will also have a go at eating my crumpet should I leave it momentarily. I think it must desire some of those nutrients.

How to Eat Marmite
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Marmite advises you to spead it 'thinly' on toast and crackers etc as it has such a strong and unique flavour. My partner likes it spread much more thickly than I can tolerate.

My favourite way of eating Marmite is to butter a hot crumpet with Pura non-dairy spread and but a thin layer of Marmite on. It is certainly a nutritionally better option than jam.

I also use Marmite in cooking. It is very good for giving a vegetarian gravy a great flavour and some nutritional clout. I use a large teaspoonful to do this job. I also put it in casseroles.

My brother once gave me an interesting mixture of Marmite and marmalade on my toast; he called it 'Marmitalade' Try it for yourself. Lol.

To Conclude
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I like the love it or hate it nature of Marmite - at least it's not boring.

Summary: A Distictive spread that I like