Nutritional Yeast – One of my Favorite Things!

Even if you’ve never heard of it before, when you start exploring vegan cooking, it won’t be long before you’ll start hearing about this magical food… Not to be confused with Brewers’ Yeast – which has an impressive nutritional profile but also quite an unpleasant flavor – nutritional yeast is a wonderful ingredient that soon becomes a staple in many a vegan kitchen.

It’s used frequently in many recipes, and makes a great condiment and seasoning, as it adds a delightfully ‘savory’ flavor to everything from pasta and tofu to toast and popcorn. Not only does it do an amazing job of imitating the flavor of cheese – making it an essential ingredient for non-dairy cheese sauces and toppings – it is also nutritionally rich, and an excellent supplement for anyone concerned about their intake of B vitamins, and especially B12.

There are a number of brands of nutritional yeast, but as far as I know, Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula is the only one that is 100 percent vegan, fortified with B12, and also delicious. Their website has lots of information about the specific benefits of this product.

According to its nutritional profile, 1.5 tablespoons of this tasty golden powder (2 tablespoons of the large flakes) provides:

Thiamin – 640% RDA
Niacin – 280% RDA
Folic Acid – 60% RDA
Selenium – 32% RDA
Riboflavin – 565% RDA
Vitamin B6 – 480% RDA
Vitamin B12 – 133% RDA
Zinc – 21% RDA

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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Robin R.

1:02PM PDT on Apr 5, 2012

I went to the grocery store in hopes of buying nutritional yeast but they only have "traditional yeast" - what is the difference? Is it called something different in Canada?