Thickeners, yeast only?

[hilarya_m]

Hi All,

I see alot of nutri yeast in rawcipes as a thickener and I'm wondering what else is out there? While cooked vegan, I used Kuzu. Could I use that?

I will just buy some yeast this weekend if need be but if I don't have to spend the cash (and have an aversion to introducing anything candida producing into the body after years of issues) then I won't!

Thanks!

[SevenKindsOfCookie]

Funny, I was just about to start a thread about thickeners.

Does nutritional yeast work as a thickener? I just thought that it was used more for the taste of it.

I wasn't aware of Kudzu. Can it be used without heating it or could you at least heat it seperately and mix it with the other ingedients (like with agar)?

It would be nice if we could compile a table of different thickeners/binders, when and how to use them.
I'll start by listing a few.

Chia (raw)
Psyllium (raw)
Flax (raw)
Irish moss (raw)
Agar (not raw)
Lecithin (not raw)
Pectin (raw)

[coco]

yeast is for flavour, not thickening. for that consider ground flax or chia, lecithin, melted coconut oil (gets hard again in the fridge, great for desserts) and that moss stuff, what is it? irish moss i think. looks absolutely disgusting but gets raved about all over the raw foods communities.

[Dimond]

I never use yeast. Instead I use avocados, oil, protein powder or hemp butter as a thickener. Other foods may work as well depending on the recipe.

[Tirza]

Nutritional yeast will definitely thicken things that are already kind of thick. Not liquids, particularly though unless you use a ton of it. But unless you particularly want the taste it also imparts, use something else.

If you want a tasteless thickener, and your mixture is quite moist, you can soak some chia in the liquid. Then you blend it until smooth and add the rest of the ingredients to the thick mixture. Psyllium and Irish Moss is good too.