Brewer's yeast

[Smileen]

Does anyone use it and is it considered raw? I'm guessing it is different than nutrional yeast, but if you have info, could you confirm that?

Many thanks,

[Shona]

Brewer's yeast is a by-product of beer making and tastes kind of nasty. I've seen 'debittered' brewer's yeast at my natural food store, but I've never been tempted to try it.

Nutritional yeast is an inactive food yeast grown on molasses. The yellow color is due to a high riboflavin content. The best fortified brand I've found is Red Star. If you don't eat dairy, it's best to check labels because some brands of nutritional yeast have whey added.

In my experience, the two yeasts are not interchangeable in recipes. They aren't the same and they don't taste the same. I personally would not use brewer's yeast for anything. Yuck.

I have no idea if either of them are raw. Maybe someone else will be more helpful.

Shona :)

[dragonfist70]

guess it has b12 but i personally won't use it

[Smileen]

Thank you both. If anyone else has additional info please keep replying.

[city]

I was confused as well. The guy at the Whole Foods Market looked it up in his gigantic reference guide and it said that Brewers and Nutritional yeast were the same thing. I've never used either. I'm going to make some "cheese" when my Excalibur gets in and I'll post the results of the using Brewer's yeast.

[tracyinfo]

Brewers yeast is not the same as nutritional yeast! I would not suggest using brewers yeast to make something "cheesy". I believe it would taste terrible.

You want the nutritional yeast for making things "cheesy".


I was confused as well. The guy at the Whole Foods Market looked it up in his gigantic reference guide and it said that Brewers and Nutritional yeast were the same thing. I've never used either. I'm going to make some "cheese" when my Excalibur gets in and I'll post the results of the using Brewer's yeast.

[Shona]

Brewers yeast is not the same as nutritional yeast!

I said exactly the same thing above. There are a few people who think brewer's yeast tastes okay, but just the thought makes me shudder. Blech.

Shona :)

[RawTruth]

It is my understanding that neither one is raw.

[city]

Has to be, Rawtruth. Yeast is alive.

[Victoria]

Yeast gives me a lots of gas.

[Shona]

I think I would agree with RawTruth on this.

Because brewer's yeast is a by-product, that suggests to me that it has been processed in some way and thus would not be raw. Nutritional yeast is an inactive food yeast. According to The Nutritional Yeast Cookbook, this yeast is washed, pastuerized, and thoroughly dried before being shipped to market, so I would say it isn't raw either.

Shona :)

[RawTruth]

Okay, here 'tis -- yeast has been pasteurized, so, no, it is not raw. You can read about the processing here, if you wish:

http://www.lesaffreyeastcorp.com/nutritional/manufacturing/process.html

As you'll see, an integral part of the processing (of which there is quite a bit) is heating it to temperatures high enough to kill the yeast cells. Additionally, other things are added to it (vitamins, etc.), but if you really want to know, just click on it for yourself.