I just bought some Marmite and tried it

[astro]

Out of curiosity I bought some Marmite and and tried it (as the label suggested) as a thin layer spead on toast. It's pretty dear as it's over $ 5.00 for a tiny little 4.4 oz jar but I decided to see what the fuss was all about.

Now I've got a reasonably eclectic palate, but this gooey stuff tastes like the gummy residue you'd scrape off the bottom of a cooking pan after using liberal amounts of soy sauce to stir fry something. It has some hints of a vaguely interesting tangy yeastyness in the background, and an odd slight burnt smell, but no burnt taste aspect, but the overwhelming impression is of saltiness, saltiness and more saltiness. I looked on the label and the amount of sodium in the little bit I had( 1/2 tsp) used was over 200 mg.

I then decided to try some "straight" off the spoon so I could get the main essence. That was a mistake.

Why does this stuff even exist, and more confoundingly are there really people to whom this stuff is a delicacy?

[bodswood]

Good on yer, Astro! Marmite as you may know is what's scraped off the bottom of the pan during the brewing process. While definitely not recommended on its own, it's good in cheese sandwiches - if you've run out of Branston Pickle.

It also has the advantage of maturing with age, so a jar of Marmite that has passed its sell-by date is no cause for alarm - especially now they use plastic tops instead of the old metal ones, which tended to rust away and add extra minerals as it disintegrated into the goo below.

Beware of Vegemite, Marmite's Antipodean poor relation. Whereas the stout English original has that distinctive salty flavour you noted, the Aussie muck has virtually no flavour at all.

[aruvqan]

i like it, but i am an intense flavor/salt fiend=)

FWIW, I use it most to reinforce my beef stew if someone comes over who I know prefers canned soups and stews to homemade because in the right amounts it adds the hydrolized yeast flavor in that they associate with soup and stew=)

though I do like it on toast, but I am funny that way=)

[bodswood]

Amen to that! Great on buttered toast. Just remember to spread it THIN. There's a reason that this stuff comes in tiny packages, although no reason why it's so expensive as far as I can tell. Apart from the fact, already noted, that you never actually get to finish a jar. Plus the glass is so thick that it's almost unbreakable. Believe me, some of my friends have tried.

[Master Wang-Ka]

My first thought was "heavily salted automotive lubrication product."

Weirdly enough, it does work well in stews, though. It's like... bouillon jelly, or something like that...

[Cunctator]

Beware of Vegemite, Marmite's Antipodean poor relation. Whereas the stout English original has that distinctive salty flavour you noted, the Aussie muck has virtually no flavour at all.

That's a new one on me. :dubious:

We Australians love Vegemite because of its tangy, salty flavour. Foreigners usually hate it, but I've never heard anyone say that it had 'virtually no flavour'.

[edwino]

Ahhh the joys of growing up South African. Never did acquire a taste for Marmite, despite my parents multiple attempts. It is nothing but nasty. We use yeast extract powder to make bacterial growth media in the lab and the stuff smells identical. I wear a mask when I have to use it.

[hijack]
Is Peck's Anchovette (we called it "fishpaste") a South African or a whole Commonwealth type of thing? Basically, it is a pureed anchovy spread to be put on toast. That's another thing that these South African types use to fortify growing boys.

[Cunctator]

The various Pecks pastes (including the anchovy one and the devilled ham one) were certainly available in Australia when I was growing up. I used to love them on toast and in sandwiches. I'm not sure whether one can still get them nowadays. I'll have a look when I'm next in a supermarket.

[Mighty_Girl]

Hopefully my British doper friend will soon be here to explain her adiction. I tried it once. It is not something I will grow fond of but I 'enjoyed' it. That time.

But I am here to tell you another story. My British friend is always afraid that she's going to run out of her beloved Marmite, been as we are in the middle of the Caribbean. Whenever any of her friends travels to the UK she always ask for the same thing: another jar of marmite.

Hubby and I travel to Denmark last October, and we decide to see if we can find her some marmite, been Copenhagen a cosmopolitan city. We head for Magazin, with its large supermarket stocked with all kind of exotic goodies. No marmite anywhere. So, we ask the area supervisor who replies 'Ah, marmite. We stopped carrying that after the "great poison scandal."' :eek:

Apparently the wimpy Danes couldn't take it and a few people got food poisoned with Marmite sold at Magazin. Last month we were back in Denmark and my husband's cousin that live in London and had heard the story brought us a giant jar... that is sitting in our pantry since our marmite-loving friend is back in the UK.

And sitting it will. I have no plans to even try it again.

[Small Clanger]

. . .this gooey stuff tastes like the gummy residue you'd scrape off the bottom of a cooking pan after using liberal amounts of soy sauce to stir fry something. ::mmmm gummy residue::

. . . are there really people to whom this stuff is a delicacy? Not so much a delicacy as a staple :)

Don't like Marmite? Then you wont like twiglets (http://www.taquitos.net/snacks/detail/index.php?snack_code=712) either.

[Abe]

Astro you never, ever, eat this stuff on its own. I was introduced to Marmite, and thought it was pretty damn bad. However I quickly grew to appreciate its value in stew, soups, broth, etc. -- it does the job. I never got the hang of eating it on bread, mostly because everyone I knew who ate it used too much of it and turned me off it.

Then, years later, I discovered Vegemite, and was appropriately appalled. But, to my great surprise, after a few years the taste grew on me. Now I consider Vegemite one of the best things to spread (THINLY!) over toast, with some butter of course.

Take it from an interested and impartial observer and taster, Vegemite is probably the best of the two (cue cries of "heretic!").

[grimpixie]

[hijack]
Is Peck's Anchovette (we called it "fishpaste") a South African or a whole Commonwealth type of thing? Basically, it is a pureed anchovy spread to be put on toast. That's another thing that these South African types use to fortify growing boys.FLASHBACK!!! FLASHBACK!!! Lordy - I miss that stuff!! I've not been able to find it in the UK - the sardine and tomato paste they do here is but a pale reflection...

As for the Marmite debate - I like it as a change up, but am not overly keen on it. I grew up having Bovril on my toast - but that's not something you admit publicly here, where it is either a drink or a stock base....

Grim

[Small Clanger]

::Points at Abe::

BURN HIM!

[MacSpon]

Marmite vs. Vegemite -- I find that you like one, or the other, or neither; but not both.

Once upon a time I liked Marmite. Then I went a few years without any; the next time I tried one of the twain, it was Vegemite, and my taste buds promptly switched on me. Now I can't stand Marmite; but Vegemite on toast is yummy.

I'm not claiming any of this makes sense, mind you.

[MrDibble]

That's my Marmite! Love the stuff - either on its own or with cheese.
grim , I've seen Pecks for sale in London some 3 years ago - was an import foods place somewhere 'round Little Venice.
but I pwefer Wedwo...

[Johnny L.A.]

Yank checking in...

I prefer Vegemite.

Working on that 2½ kg pail... :)

[grimpixie]

grim , I've seen Pecks for sale in London some 3 years ago - was an import foods place somewhere 'round Little Venice.
but I pwefer Wedwo...ACKK!! The nostalgia - I can't stand it!!!
I call everything I love Wedwo - don't I Wedwo?

Here's some food for thought:There's no denying South Africans love fish paste; 2,6m jars are bought each month. <snip> So a marketing campaign was devised. It started with a new pricing strategy that made Peck's suddenly 10% more expensive than Redro. <snip> The brand objective was to "position Peck's as a premium spread - unquestioned quality, unparalleled image and unrivalled savoury fish paste". The core target market was women of 30 and over. From here (http://secure.financialmail.co.za/03/1114/admark/aam.htm) - so I am the discerning consumer, and you are the cut price masses :)

Grim

[photopat]

Beware of Vegemite... the Aussie muck has virtually no flavour at all.

Excuse me???? It does indeed have flavour. A flavor I can only describe as a burnt rubber/mildew/charcoal smoothie.

Vile stuff. I can only imagine it's sold to consumers because it's use during wartime was a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

[astro]

Excuse me???? It does indeed have flavour. A flavor I can only describe as a burnt rubber/mildew/charcoal smoothie.

Vile stuff. I can only imagine it's sold to consumers because it's use during wartime was a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Charcoal smoothie! - Best juxtaposition ever!

[pulykamell]

Marmite is wonderful stuff. But it's definitely a love it or hate it proposition. It's impossible to be a fence sitter on this issue. Years back in the UK, they even had a rather cheeky series of advertisements that played off this fact.

Anyhow, I still remember the first time I tried Marmite. I was in Croatia working on an international volunteer project. There were a couple of Kiwis there and a Scot, who always ate this black substance smeared on toast for breakfast. So I innocently asked them, "What is that?" "It's Marmite. It's really good, do you want to try some?" "Sure," says I, not realizing all of a sudden I had become the focal point of attention for these three.

So they give me a piece of toast, butter, and Marmite. As I'm biting into it, my taste buds are anticipating something sweet, maybe something Nutella-like. It's brown, sticky, on toast, eaten for breakfast -- gotta be sweet, right?

I can't describe the momentary shock and disorientation that followed. When you expect one flavor, and your taste buds are bombarded with the exact opposite, it takes some time to recover. Wow, this stuff was vile.

But I stuck with it. Next thing I know, I'm absolutely addicted to it, smearing it twice as thick as everyone else...sometimes even eating a little bit of it out of the jar without anything else.

Marmite rocks.

[Sunspace]

...pureed anchovy spread... *blink*
:: shudder ::
<mutters> I knew there was a reason my ancestors left Britain...I prefer Vegemite.

Working on that 2½ kg pail... :eek:

[glee]

Now look here, you American chaps. Marmite is as British as Greg Rudzeski* (err, some mistake, surely) and is found in larders across the country.

[Stirring British music ON]
Who amongst us in this sceptred isle can forget their first taste of Marmite soldiers**?
We shall fight them on the beaches before we shall surrender our rights to Marmite gravy.
Do not ask what you can do for your country***! Ask what you can do for the brewers of Britain****!
And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England's mountains green? And was the Holy Lamb of God eating his twiglets***** clearly seen?
[Stirring British music OFF]

There now follows a brief translation:

*he is a Canadian tennis player who now represents England. Shame about the accent...
**buttered bread (or toast) with dots of Marmite neatly placed at regular intervals by your mother.
***Yes, I know this was Kennedy. I got carried away by the music...
****see bodswood's post
*****see Small Clanger's post

[Bippy the Beardless]

Marmite / Vegimite. I have both and have been comparing tastes. Marmite is saltier and slightly more sharp tasting. Vegimite is sweeter and has more noticable falvours within it. The main difference in the ingredients list is that vegimite contains malt which marmite does not. Both have vegitable based flavouring, which doesn't go into detail of what vegitables the flavour comes from.
Personally I prefer Marmite for its bite and strength, but for cooking sauces I susspect the vegimite may be better since it has a more rounded flavour.

[Helena]

I know someone who claims to have used Vegemite to grease his bicycle.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

I like 'em both. :D

Promite sucks tho.

[yBeayf]

Originally posted by edwino
Ahhh the joys of growing up South African. Never did acquire a taste for Marmite, despite my parents multiple attempts. It is nothing but nasty.
Heh. I recently discovered your father is a co-worker of mine, and man, does he love his salty and pungent foods. He was the only other person in the office joining me in partaking of some salmiakki that I brought in. I can only imagine what kind of weird and savory stuff he foisted on you in your youth.