I always want to share with you, what is going on in relation to Nia, but I know that there are other things to share about besides my upcoming new evening Nia class in Campbell (Oh, please forgive me, I am soooooo excited, I just HAD to put it out there. And, be warned, I will do it again!). I was walking by my newly purchased container of yeast when I remembered hearing about Nutritional Yeast. I know I have actually heard about it before, but I dismissed it as regular old yeast but with a fancy name. Let me remind you I have been afraid of yeast. Silly, I know, but . . . Anyway . . . when I was growing up my father was really into all the health food stuff. Stuff that you could not find in any store, but a health food store. All the stuff people are now eating, most people thought was weird back then. Not only was it weird, but it was hard to find. There was not a health food store on every corner and in every mall. But because of my dad, I would bet I heard about it way back then. I just saw it in a recipe recently so I looked it up. It is not regular yeast. In fact, it has been deactivated. See activating and deactivating fungus, come on, can you kinda see why it was a bit scary to me? So Nutritional Yeast has been deactivated.
According to all the sources I see Nutritional Yeast is used often by vegans and vegetarians because it has a great nutritional value. Two heaping tablespoons gives you:
ONLY: 1 gram of fat and 5 mgs of sodium (WOW!)
320 mg of potassium
5 g of carbohydrates
4 g of dietary fiber
9 g of protein (It is a complete protein)
It is FULL of B vitamins. B-1, B-2, B-3, B-6, and B-12.
Although one does not normally just EAT two tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast. It is added to things. And again, from what I am seeing you can add it to pretty much anything! Sprinkle it on all your foods from salad to popcorn. Put it in a smoothie or added it to a meat marinade.
Informational reports say that it does have a flavor. What I am seeing is that it has a strong nutty type of flavor. Some say a cheesy flavor. So often it will be used to add the flavor of cheese to things. Whenever I see that I want to go get some. Then I get to the store and forget. I even was at the store and bought the aforementioned regular yeast but forgot all about this stuff.
Nutritional yeast is sugar-free and gluten-free. So it is a great way to get a little bit of flavor and extra nutrition.
Do you use it? I know a lot of you are much more kitchen/cooky/foodie savvy than me, so you have probably heard about it and even know what it is. Have you used it? Have you tasted it? How would YOU describe its taste?
Tell me, I wanna know!
Terre Pruitt's Blog 