A few years ago we started incorporating and eating plenty of vegan food. We read this book: Eating Animals and happened to see this movie: Forks over Knives and were convinced. In our quest for delicious vegan recipes, we found this secret ingredient: Nutritional Yeast. It is the best wonder food out there! We didn't know what it was, but found it at our local health food shop: Sol
(we are going to say more about them in another post-but they are our favourite health food shop). Most health food stores should carry it, and I heard you can sometimes get it at Bulk Barn.
We discovered that Nutritional Yeast is high in protein, B vitamins and the best:
IT TASTES LIKE CHEESE! let us just repeat that: IT TASTES LIKE CHEESE!
When you haven't eaten any dairy products for years, you tend to get a little excited : )
What is this stuff? When we first saw it were a bit hesitant to try it as it kind of looks like goldfish food. We sucked up our courage and tasted it on popcorn. We were hooked! We found out that Nutritional Yeast is one of the three kinds of edible yeast. The other two being Brewer's Yeast and Baker's Yeast. Nutritional Yeast differs in that it is an inactive yeast and is oh so good for you! It is primarily grown on beet, cane sugar or molasses then fermented, harvested, pasteurized, and dried at high temperatures to deactivate it.
Nutritional Yeast is named so because it is high in protein, fiber and several B vitamins. An average 1/4 cup of this good stuff has: 45 calories, less than half a gram of fat, 3 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein.
How on earth do you consume these Golden Flaked of Goodness?
We love to it eat it: on popcorn, on pizza, in sauces, on lasagna and other pasta dishes but mostly we love it on popcorn. Be brave and try a little on some popcorn. Your body and taste buds will thank you.
If you are curious for more info check out these sites:
Wikipedia-Nutritional Yeast
20 ways of using Nutritional Yeast
Natural Health Research
Gastrochef
oh I am just loving your blog! I've been reading everything and drooling over all your recipes. So I tried nutritional yeast for the first time back in college here in cali and was similarly hooked! In fact, I craved it throughout a number of my pregnancies :) Anyway, there is a very popular brand that originated in santa barbara called Bragg and I love it. One of my favourite ways to enjoy it is on a green salad with some bragg liquid aminos and a touch of s&p. Or on cooked veggies and, you guessed it- popcorn! Love you gals. Keep up the awesome, creative work. xo
ReplyDeleteAnne-Marie! So great to hear from you. We love the liquid Braggs too! We found out about it last year! Such a great way to get protein. Hope all is well with you and you kiddies! Maybe we will see you this summer?
ReplyDeleteOf course the Californians are way ahead of the healthy eating band wagon : )