Umami – the sexy flavour
The chef and cookbook author Laura Santtini calls herself a “cognitive cook” because her work is all about exploring the inextricable link between flavours and feelings, she says. She has published a cookbook entitled “At Home with Umami: Home-Cooked Recipes Unlocking the Magic of Super-Savory Deliciousness“. And she leaves the [...]
Basic umami taste with yeast extract
Yeast extract is a seasoning that appeals to the receptors for the basic umami taste. It therefore serves an important culinary function. Every chef is aware that the taste of a dish can be enhanced by sprinkling a pinch of sugar or salt over it. Similarly, a small amount of [...]
Tracing yeast back to its origins
With the help of modern genetic analysis techniques, a Belgian research team has proved that the many thousands of strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae – the most commonly used cultured yeast in modern-day food and beverages production – can be traced back to five subgroups that were domesticated as early as the 16th [...]
Yeast extract ≠ glutamate
Analysis of glutamate content of packet soups In media reports, the food ingredient yeast extract is often merely reduced to the amino acid glutamate, which is a natural protein building block contained in yeast. However, scientific analysis shows that yeast extract not only contains glutamate, but micronutrients and the entire [...]
Do European consumers read the ingredients lists on food packaging?
The market research company Nielsen has polled consumers in 61 countries worldwide about their food shopping habits. The results reveal that in Germany only one in three consumers is interested in knowing what ingredients are contained in foodstuffs. By contrast, consumers in other European countries are more wary. They take [...]
Vitamin B12 occurs naturally in yeast extract
Vitamin B12 is an important part of any diet. It is involved in a number of metabolic processes such as the breakdown of certain fatty acids, assists in the formation of blood cells by transferring folic acid in its active form, and plays a vital role in cell division and [...]
