I've come to think of miso paste as a distant cousin of the Marmite family. Less salty, less acrid, still packed with umami, and with much more discernible flavour. A more civilised cousin, really. Although it's not traditional, you can use them in similar ways; miso paste on buttered toast is quite nice.
I am probably way off here but I also think of Norwegian brunost or Swedish messmör. Essentially boiled down whey.
It is certainly much sweeter than vege/marmite, and I am not sure the remainig taste could be classified as umami. But it has a very distinctive taste.
And, if I am completely wrong, at least I can claim that the consistency and color is similar to vege/marmite.
That's a really interesting comparison. I think brunost has a lot of flavours that are nothing like Marmite - it's creamy, it's sweet, and it's a bit sour. But they are certainly similar in that they have a sort of concentratedness to them, and in that sensible people hate them.
I also made it once. The electricity for boiling all that liquid should be what makes up most of the manufacuring cost. Hm I should ask Fjällbrynt how they cope with that.
If I remember correctly the trick was in the stirring. Either not stir at all (with the risk of burning), or stir all the time to keep it from crystalizing.
That is why my comment was full of caveats! I also felt like maybe the taste was not really comparable. But I think you nailed it with the last sentence!
When I make a grilled cheese sandwich, I like to smear one slice of bread thinly with miso paste (and the other with dijon). Vegemite suddenly made sense once I realized it is used in much the same way.
I always wondered how Marmite was made and how it was invented and now I know both after reading the article. I'm tempted to give it a go!
My family would say I'm obsessed with Marmite. I had Marmite on crumpets for breakfast. Only about 50% of the people in my family like Marmite - it is that sort of thing. Either you love it or hate it!
When I was travelling I could only get Vegemite and I came to appreciate that too. It's not Marmite but it is quite similar and will certainly do :-)
I'm really liking everyone in the new season, Steve Pemberton is practically Bob Mortimer levels of hilarious. Unfortunately I find it difficult to look at Nick Mohamed's dracula makeup because I have an issue with distorted faces.
The first time my father was in the UK, he had just come from the Netherlands, where they put chocolate sprinkles (Hagelslag) on toast, so he thought the open Marmite jar must be something Nutella-like, and slathered it liberally onto his bread.
He had just been engaged in the process of pondering how awfully civilised the Brits were when he bit into it.
Same thing happened to me when I moved to the UK: I went to the supermarket, bought one jar or Marmite, went back home, had a toast with it expecting to have some sweet-close-to-chocolate flavour and then I was shocked. I have to admit that I actually liked although I don't eat it regularly these days because that wild amount of salt cannot be healthy in any manner.
At least that's an honest mistake. Unlike all those YouTubers who clearly know only to spread a little but pretend it's Nutella and dig in with a spoon so they can overreact.
As a kid, and indeed as a young adult, eating a teaspoon of Vegemite was something I did fairly frequently. It was just a snack, with no mucking about, just instant food. A sort-of after school thing.
It was way better than a spoonful of peanut paste, which was just over-the-top, way too much, and left your mouth and teeth gummed up and gagging.
Milo was also not unknown, albeit a smaller teaspoon, because it too was pretty intense.
But the king of the "instant spoonful of food" category was powdered milk. You had to more-or-less hyperventilate first, because you weren't going to be breathing for a while without making a lot of mess, but the gummy, sweet, mouthful of saliva-mixed-with-milk-powder was good enough that the difficulty of doing it successfully was kinda worth it.
I'm somewhat tempted to try a teaspoon of Vegemite now, you know "for science", but perhaps it's better left as just a memory.
I'm writing this because like all Vegemite lovers I have to stand up and be counted as one.
As Vegemite-ers know, there's absolutely no point discussing Vegemite with those from overseas, especially Americans, let alone trying to get them to taste it. It's a total waste of time! What's more it's potentially risky—a foreigner could likely file assault charges on grounds of attempted poisoning.
For the record, I'll eat spoonfuls of the stuff and others around me have been known to hide it away save there being none left. Recently, I've taken to the salt reduced version and I actually rather like it (and I suppose 40% salt reduction is a good thing).
Quite some years ago a relative of mine who's living in the US packed eight of the largest jars made to stockpile in his Vegemite-forsaken adopted homeland and apparently US Customs started prodding the jars looking for illicit substances. From what I can gather he wasn't arrested nor were the jars confiscated.
'Spoonfuls' doesn't help with the the impression that Vegemite needs to be portioned correctly. I would guess, most Americans are put off my Vegemite because their first notion is to grab a spoonful and shove it in their mouths with nothing else as they would with peanut butter. Of course it doesn't help thst, my guess from experience, is that most Australians would encourage the action while trying to hold back their laughter.
Disclosure: I am an American, I live in Australia, I like my Vegemite thin and my peanut butter thick :-)
> Of course it doesn't help thst, my guess from experience, is that most Australians would encourage the action while trying to hold back their laughter.
Whilst funny, the problems with pranks like this is that Americans start to armour up and don't listen to important advice we give them, e.g putting vegemite behind the ears with a couple of forks when going through dropbeae heavy regions. This is why so many of the poor buggers end up mauled or even dead.
It's often remarked that American bread is reminiscent of cake, in that is loaded with sugar. I wonder if they would like it better on more traditional, wholemeal bread. I also note that the post falls to mention butter, which is a key ingredient in any Vegemite-on-toast preparation.
Also, the article compares Vegemite to soy sauce. While Vegemite is salty, black and umami flavoured, I think it is more similar to Japanese miso soup.
Butter? Oh, no no no. I'm definitely a fan of just Vegemite, spread thick, and toast. Adding butter is just diluting the pure goodness of the product, adulteration it with a moderating flavour and texture if you will.
Also, Vegemite and avocado is a great pair. As is Vegemite and a hard chrap cheese like tasty cheese.
Right, there has to be some! I've even met a few myself. But I'll bet the per capita is mighty low. ;-)
From my observation, there are (roughly) two types of people who love Vegemite, Marmite, Promite, etc.—those who like strong flavors like you and I do and those who are brought up on it from not long after they've been weaned.
If you check out the YouTube link in my other comment you'll note it's aimed at kids. For example, when I was in primary school kids (me included) would often have Vegemite and lettuce sandwiches (kids just wouldn't eat lettuce sandwiches alone). As contrast, our second sandwich would be something quite different (honey and peanut butter, ham and tomato, etc.).
I eat chilies, curries and such and was introduced to them very young too, so no doubt that helped. But not completely, some of my liking for strong flavors was innate. I recall when I was about 5 going on 6 my mother made me weak tea with lots of milk and sugar. One day I told her not to put sugar in my tea and only one week later told her to stop the milk and to make it stronger, ever since I've only ever drunk it sans milk and sugar (I simply won't drink tea if either is added).
You have definitely had the wrong matcha. Prepared the traditional way (powder, hot water, and a bamboo whisk), it is a bit foamy, strongly bitter, with grassy notes.
When I visited the US office of the company I worked for, I made vegemite on toast and offered it around. Most responses were meh but the one positive I got was from a person of Chinese ethnicity.
I think the "soy sauce in solid form" is a pretty good beginner description but of course it is also quite distinct.
There are schools of vegemite thought too; warm or hot toast? Slather the vegemite on or just add dabs on top of melting butter?
Soy sauce in solid form is an excellent description. I actually do this in reverse in Taiwan, where they have a type of thick soy sauce called 醬油膏. It's used in the local cuisine to build umami flavor in sauces and stir-fries or sometimes as a condiment, but it also works as a marmite-replacement. I tend to put it in a dish with some olive oil for margarine-replacement and dip chunks of bread into it to get my "foreign" food fix.
I imagine most people from soy sauce eating countries in Asia would understand the flavor profile, it might be more the combination with toast that feels unexpected.
Have you tried the salt reduced version (the one with the blue stripe around the top of the label)? It's definitely softer and sweeter than the original and a little more like Marmite (sort of halfway in between).
> there's absolutely no point discussing Vegemite with those from overseas, especially Americans, let alone trying to get them to taste it
Not so fast my friend! Ich bin ein sheiz Ami who is no stranger to sesos, lengua, offal, Asian ingenuity and piping hot street food spanning four continents.
Describe the Vegemite. On biscuits or toast? If with beer, a pilsner or stout? Please.
Perhaps so, but as I said above, I'll bet the per capita is low. Even Australians who aren't brought up with the stuff from a very early age just won't eat it either.
Yeah, we like to think foreigners can't hack it - but we had an American friend staying with us for a while, and one day I came out to breakfast to find him having Vegemite and peanut butter layered on top of each other, on the same piece of toast.
Jesus, Craig - what the hell were you thinking!?!?
I have to give a shoutout to New Zealand Marmite which is totally different to British Marmite (I think that NZ marmite has some sweetness as well).
Somehow i grew up in a mixed household that had both because my mum preferred Vegemite and I prefer Marmite.
In NYC it’s fairly easy to get Australian Vegemite but sadly impossible to find NZ Marmite, instead I do a bulk order every couple of years so that I have a stockpile :)
This. Imagine my suprise growing up on NZ Marmite, to open a jar of British Marmite and go 'wtf is that slightly gooey stuff'.
There's 3 very distinct camps in NZ.
Love Marmite - what's wrong with you Vegemite people
Love Vegemite - what's wrong with you Marmite people
None of the above - what's wrong with the lot of you
I had to tell my mum off for having Vegemite in her pantry the other day, but she had a decent enough excuse that made me giggle. "I buy vegemite because it comes in glass jars and I can reuse them!"
In the 80s Vegemite used to come in small glass jars with a press-on lid that were designed to be reused as drinking tumblers. It was common to see kitchen cupboards full of those tumblers.
I was first introduced to Marmite by way of Twiglets.
I love marmite, I loved twiglets. Then I was forced to go gluten-free. That ruled out both Marmite and Twiglets, also the default Vegemite.
I've yet to find gluten-free Twiglets, but thankfully there are gluten-free alts for Marmite and a GF Vegemite. As a Brit, Marmite takes the crown though.
"was first introduced to Marmite by way of Twiglets. "
As a Vegemite addict, I find Twiglets (despite the Marmite) compulsively addictive. Fortunately, they're hard to find over here, hence my addiction is under control.
BTW, I also like Marmite but not as much a Vegemite. When I was a kid, we had both at home, my mother favored Marmite, and as the ad goes, the rest of us were happy little Vegemites: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LZF3FBh-n_8
Kudos to the author for trying this. My approach would be to ignore the junk recipes online and see if there are any patents that describe the process. I'll have a look when I have time.
My guess would be that there's some industrial process that completely separates any yeast from anything else so as to remove any potential hop bitterness. And that there's also likely been some updates to the process over the years. It may have started out as boiling things down in the 1920s, but may have moved on to an enzyme catalyzed process these days?
On the idea of using a stout: you will end up with even more bitterness than the version you made, more than likely. Stouts (especially higher alcohol stouts) tend to be fairly generously hopped compared to a standard light lager, in order to balance the sweetness of the added malt. You just don't taste them as being super hoppy because a) the hops are added early in the boil for bittering and most of the volatile aromas boil off, and b) because, well, they're doing their job of balancing the sweet malts to make the beer not taste sickly sweet.
Author here! Thanks, though the kudos really goes to the friend who followed up on the idea of doing it and asked me to pop round in the afternoon and make some.
Re process, the linked video talks about using a centrifuge to separate the yeast and liquid, and in fact improvised a home-made centrifuge using a washing machine. It’s possible that simply skimming the top of a settled mixture is not nearly as effective and yeast contamination led to some of poor flavor notes.
As for stouts: noted, thanks, looks like I need another approach. The main reason was not just bitterness but colour: to start with a dark liquid to get a black end product. Any thoughts on how both Vegemite and Marmite end up so black?
I've noticed the umami flavour that tends to develop when cooking beer for a long time. An Irish stew with Guinness in it, or a gulas using beer as the staple liquid all develop Vegemite like flavours.
I love it, but I think a lot of non-Aussies don't recognise the similarities.
if you haven't done it, try slowly concentrating guinness in the way you would concentrate stock. Then add a little meat juice. It makes a formidable sauce.
I recall that one year, they did a Marmite made from Champagne years for Valentine's day. I vaguely remember that it was quite a bit milder than normal Marmite.
These are great in vegetarian 'minced meat' dishes like chili, to add a meaty umami taste.
Having said that, Marmite is clearly vastly superior and has a deeper umami taste than the slightly fake industrial plastic taste of Vegemite.
Careful though, I bought a jar of New Zealand Marmite once, thinking it was the same thing as real Marmite, given the same brand name, but, it was barely even passable as 'cooking marmite', let alone on hot buttered toast.
I moved from Australia to the UK a few years ago. I never liked Vegemite very much before but find myself really enjoying Marmite. There's an off taste to Vegemite, like almost a strange medicinal flavour.
Although I've been aware of it for many years, I've never had vegemite (or marmite for that matter), and never really knew what it was. Reading this (and watching the video) got me thinking along the same lines as you mention. Seems like it could be interesting used as a bullion/soup base, or maybe used like Worcestershire.
I'm surprised no one mentioned it, but smooshing up a soft avocado mixing it with a small amount of Marmite then spreading it on toast is godlike. Top it with a poached egg and it's perfection.
As an American I was baffled by marmite/vegemite until an Englishman finally explained to me your not supposed to eat it like peanut butter. A small amount mixed with anything savory is delicious. It’s basically msg, salt, and B vitamins.
I am a certified (British) Vegemite fiend, I go out of my way to stock up from the supermarkets that carry it (it's tragic to see a whole metre of shelving, top to bottom, taken up with differently packaged marmite and its derivatives like marmite peanut butter, but not a single tray of vegemite).
However, as a child I went through a phase of eating Bovril on toast. Looking forward with not a little apprehension to "Adventures in making Bovril".
This Aussie expat is very thankful for our local Tesco always having Vegemite stock. They also stock Bundaberg Ginger Beer (try it if you haven’t, another Aussie favourite).
Root beer is another one of those flavours you either love or hate, and Bundaberg's is particularly excellent. Sadly it's the only one I've found that contains liquorice, making all others seem lacking by comparison.
Slightly surprised to find Bundaberg is actually drunk by Aussie's - cynical me always assumed it was marketing like Fosters.
For people who like that sort of thing, it might be worth looking at Euthymol toothpaste. It tastes like a mix of root beer, jagermeister, germolene antiseptic and pink.
Bundaberg would definitely be the most popular ginger beer brand in Australia, and their rum is so ubiquitous that you'll hear "bundy & coke" far more than the generic "rum & coke".
Amazing! I love Vegemite ever since living in Australia. When we later moved to Vienna I bought some with me. My first born has never been anywhere near Australia but is addicted to butter and Vegemite on toast. We also use it to make vegan versions of Italian recipes requiring anchovies.
I agree, nice and thick, with lots of butter! Don't listen to the advice in the article :-)
> The trick is not to spread it thickly like peanut butter; instead, you take about a quarter of a teaspoon’s worth and scrape it thinly over the entire slice.
according to Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, Whoppie Goldberg once said that "Vegemite tastes like licking a cat's arse". Although Connolly hasn't asked her about her research.
I personally don't understand the war between marmite and vegemite. Nor the craze about reducing the salt. They are both an acquired taste but really staple food once you get used to it. I wouldn't want to start a day without marmite (or vegemite) on some hot buttered toast.
It’s like Pepsi vs Coke, but without the ease of appeal of 12% sugar content. Behind the imposing wall of salt, they have subtle yet significant differences in flavour. An alternative probably won’t trigger the same comfort memories.
America actually has a beefy abomination called Beefy Bovrite, which kind of looks like it might be somewhat like Marmite and Vegemite, but sadly is not.
Author here. I haven't had Promite for several years (it's impossible to find where I live) but I remember it being softer in texture (more like a normal spread) and a smoother flavour profile. Less intense (in a good way!) but still robust and flavourful. It was my favourite over Vegemite.
