New interview with Jem on 1 May

[manoncharles]

(As a warning, anyone mentioning Vegemite here will be swiftly excommunicated.)

You may be old but you don't know what's good.
Have you tried Promite ?
I once saw Marmite XO in a shop in Paris. If I have time to investigate before I leave, I'll check and provide you the adress.

edit / Well : http://www.epicerie-anglaise.com/condiments/extraits-de-levures/marmite-x.o.-yeast-extract-250g/CND205/description.html
It's not available atm but they sometimes have it. Just call them next time you're around :-) (they speak English obvs)

[JimD]

Are there any other Marmite heads here who've tried other supermarket own brands? Any recommendations?

I have been tempted by the Tesco version, being a trier-of-new-things and somewhat parsimonious, but fear of it being "any good" has always stopped me. I shall now stride into Tesco with new confidence and see what it is like. I tried the New Zealand version when I was out there last year and it was really dark and mastic-like.

I have also done "the marmite thing" where you place a dollop of it on a plate or other stiff surface, and then gently but purposefully and swiftly massage it with a spoon in an up and down manner. Apparently it adds air bubbles to it but the net result is that it goes light brown, which is vaguely interesting.

If you don't believe me - here you go! http://www.bbc.co.uk/bang/article_marmite.shtml

[D S]

My eldest daughter is a huge Marmite fan but actually prefers the taste of the Tesco version, so that backs up what you've heard TA.
My youngest daughter, in true Marmite fashion, hates the stuff! No accounting for taste. 

[Trapezium Artist]

My eldest daughter is a huge Marmite fan but actually prefers the taste of the Tesco version, so that backs up what you've heard TA.
My youngest daughter, in true Marmite fashion, hates the stuff! No accounting for taste. 

It's not what I've heard: it's direct from my own palate. Bought and consumed a jar recently, and loved it. Glad to hear that I'm not alone 

The legend is that Marmite turns white if bashed long enough with a spoon, but I suspect it's just what you've said, JimD, namely that incorporating air bubbles will turn it lighter. I've certainly never had the patience to pursue the experiment long enough 

Perhaps the more interesting aspect is that Marmite can, under certain circumstances, behave like a thixotropic fluid, in which the viscosity decreases as the quicker you apply a stress to it. That is, stir your spoon through Marmite slowly and you'll feel considerably more viscosity than if you stir it rapidly. But it can also change its properties the other way at times. This might sound like a mere curiosity, but has consequences for the way that Marmite needs to be treated when it flows through factory piping:

http://www.rheology.org/ICR2008Prog/ViewPaper.aspx?ID=125

The opposite is a rheopectic fluid, where the viscosity increases as you increase the speed at which stress is applied. These are two cases of non-Newtonian fluids, where the viscosity changes as a function of the speed and/or amount of stress applied. The best known case is "oobleck" (the name comes from Dr Seuss) where you suspend corn starch in water. This is a shear-thickening fluid (the non-time-dependent version of rheopectic), and has the seemingly magical ability to transform itself from an easily stirred runny fluid when taken slowly, into a very stiff semi-solid when you try to stir quickly.

Same happens if you bang it hard and one of the classic demonstrations of this can be seen in these videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-wxnID2q4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BleCJJAKkgw

If you've never played with oobleck, go out and buy some corn starch right now 

(Oh, and what the French lass implied about V-mite above? She's wrong, so very, very wrong. She just has a bit of a crush on Australia that will be confronted with reality when she moves there this summer  )

[BrendanGee]

(As a warning, anyone mentioning Vegemite here will be swiftly excommunicated.)

Glad I read to the end of that post 

[Trapezium Artist]

The legend is that Marmite turns white if bashed long enough with a spoon, but I suspect it's just what you've said, JimD, namely that incorporating air bubbles will turn it lighter. I've certainly never had the patience to pursue the experiment long enough 

Ah – should've looked at that BBC link. Indeed, it does appear that whipped Marmite will turn white. Shudder.

[Mikey]

From an interview with Jem to the properties of Marmite.
Brilliant work guys and galls, carry on derailing.

[owen]

Legend and Marmite shouldn't even be in the same paragraph, never mind sentence

[tigermoth]

All very gripping stuff folks. I'm now off to do some train spotting.
But seriously, I am a Marmite lover myself. I've never experimented with any other varient though. I tell you what, a just opened jar of virgin marmite ... that's one of life's pleasures. As it sits there all smooth and unblemished, just waiting for you to plunge the knife in to it. OOOOF!

[rogerg]

So it's yeast extract?  basically msg?

[owen]

Think of it as sun tanned thrush

[gr8gonzo]

From an interview with Jem to the properties of Marmite.
Brilliant work guys and galls, carry on derailing.

I was thinking the same thing as I read it. Echoes of the old forum. Love it!

[gr8gonzo]

So it's yeast extract?  basically msg?

I've always wondered what the McAuley Schenker Group did to piss off the food police.

[rogerg]

So it's yeast extract?  basically msg?

I've always wondered what the McAuley Schenker Group did to piss off the food police.

I wondered the same thing.

[Trapezium Artist]

So it's yeast extract?  basically msg?

Well, not quite. MSG is simply the sodium salt of a simple amino acid, glutamic acid, and is found naturally in many foods. But industrially, it is made by the fermentation of various vegetables via a bacterium, and then the MSG is isolated out:

Currently (2016), most global MSG is produced by bacterial fermentation in a process similar to making vinegar or yogurt. Sodium is added later, for neutralization. During fermentation, Corynebacterium species, cultured with ammonia and carbohydrates from sugar beets, sugar cane, tapioca or molasses, excrete amino acids into a culture broth from which L-glutamate is isolated. The Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Company developed industrial fermentation to produce L-glutamate.

(from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate)

Marmite is much more complex, containing loads of amino acids and vitamins, as well as vegetable extract, starting from yeast left over from fermentation during the brewing of beer:

The yeast undergoes a process called autolysis, where enzymes present in the cells break down the proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and other components inside the yeast cells. Autolysis is speeded up by heating the yeast to 50°C and adding salt.
After about a day most of the proteins are broken down into amino acids. At this stage the liquid cell contents, called the autolysate, are centrifuged and filtered to separate them from the cell walls. The solid residue is used for animal feed. Water is then evaporated from the liquid autolysate in condensers until it reaches the required consistency. The mixture is then blended and flavoured with vegetable extracts and packed into sterile glass jars

(via http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/SGM/sgmfoods20.html)

However, because Marmite is loaded with amino acids, including glutamic acid, and there's salt in there, there's inevitably "natural" MSG in there as well, although it's not added specifically.