It has long been observed that humans are often irresistibly attracted to the odd, the unattainable, and the gross when it comes to consumables.  The fact that millions (including the writer of this article)  tune in to the program “Bizzare Foods” to watch Andrew Zimmern eat live worms pulled out of a wet log testifies to this.  So, when I read and article on a friend of ThankHeavenForBeer’s site, Bob the Brit whose site sets out to Demystify Britishness (and does a stellar job) about Marmite, I had to have some.  (Bob also writes reviews for a great site, The Brew Club)

Besides the fact that Bob warns in his article that a plenitude of individuals outside of England find the stuff delicious, it turns out that Marmite does not exist outside of the creation of beer, as it is a by product of the brewing process.  How can a beer nerd resist?

Marmite is made of yeast extract.  Well, to be exact, it is yeast waste (as you will see in Bob’s article and in the comments section) and actually, dead yeast.  Yeast waste is collected from breweries (including the notable Bass brewery) and converted to a thick black paste. The process is quite interesting.  From “The Marmite FAQ”:

A chemist speculates that Marmite is made by adding salt to the waste-product produced by the yeast in the brewing process, thus rupturing the yeast cells by osmotic pressure—and then concentrating the resulting sludge.
A London-based biologist retorts:

Speaking as a biologist, I’d say that’s not quite right; to rupture cells by osmotic pressure, you need to put them in a hypotonic medium, ie one lower in salt than the cell’s interior. Adding salt to a yeast suspension won’t make it hypotonic (or rather, any more hypotonic), and so wouldn’t lead to rupture (which, when we want to sound like we know what we’re talking about, we call ‘lysis’).
What adding salt does is make the solution hypertonic, which leads to the cells shrivelling up; whilst this doesn’t actually lyse them directly, it does trigger a process called ‘autolysis’, in which the yeast self-destruct. A bit of digging indicates that this is indeed how yeast extract is made industrially – salt is used to trigger autolysis, then the dying yeast are heated to complete their breakdown. All you have to do then is separate out the husks (yeast have big thick cell walls which wouldn’t do the texture of the marmite much good), and you’ve got crude marmite. Huzzah!

Sounds great!  Unfortunately, Marmite is not available in or around Toledo, Ohio.  I checked!  Fortunately, Bob is such a swell guy who would not like to see a fellow beer lover miss out on such a “quintessentially British experience, he actually mailed some samples of Marmite to Toledo.

After having read up even more on Marmite, the polarization on like-ability became even clearer.  In fact, the Marmite website has two sections:  Love It or Hate It. Some reviews hailed the black oily spread as “vile” and “disgusting.”  Needless to say, I was both excited and afraid to try it.

Since I am somewhat conditioned to treat all tastings as beer tastings, I immediately smelled the dark tarry substance.  It actually had a slightly spiced aroma to it, and the scent was not strong.  It reminded me slightly of the smell of the inside of an all natural foods store.

I decided to spread the Marmite on some wheat toast with butter, as this seemed to be the most popular method.  No matter how thin the Marmite was spread, it remained dark black.  I split the toast between my wife and I.  I was a bit hesitant to taste it, but dove in.  I had to really concentrate to focus on a flavor since the Marmite didn’t taste like anything I had ever had before.  As Bob’s site suggested, there was a definite beef flavor.  The savory spread was incredibly salty.  I was surprised by how salty it was.  There were mineral flavors, a few hints of bread, a slightly spoiled flavor, and much more that I just cannot describe.

Overall, I was surprised to find myself enjoying it.  In fact, since my wife did not find it so appealing, I ate her share after finishing mine.  I would guess that if a person enjoys game meat and hunting, they will find this stuff fantastic.

Thanks again to Bob, for introducing me to a great new flavor, and thank you Beer, for finding yet another way to enrich the human experience!

Awww, aren't they cute?

Marmite on Toast

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