ABOUT NUTRITIONAL YEAST:
No, nutritional yeast is NOT like yeast for baking breads & it’s not the same as Brewers Yeast either. Its yellow & flaky looking & is used to add a cheesy or nutty flavor. Not only does it enhance the flavoring of almost anything (try it on popcorn!), it also happens to contain one of THE most essential vitamin for vegans, B-12. If you use a little nutritional yeast a day, you will meet the daily requirements for B-12! I LOOOOVE Nutritional Yeast (in fact, I’ve been known to carry a small container of it with me when I go out to eat!)! I use this stuff for everything, so I buy a big ole’ bag of it in bulk! My kids take multi-vitamins but I definitely count on nutritional yeast as a good source of their B-12.
Nutritional yeast is one of the ingredients that is in many of my recipes for both flavor AND nutrition, so I would recommend adding this to your pantry immediately. I store mine in a “cool dark place” (aka my kitchen cabinet) but I know people who keep it refrigerated – I think it’s a matter of preference and how much you have to store!
WHERE TO BUY:
I get mine in bulk at Earth Fare, which is a natural supermarket like Whole Foods. My mother swears by the Red Star brand & only uses that kind, which she orders online. I just typed ’where to find nutritional yeast’ into my browser and these are some stores that quickly came up: Amazon.com, mother nature.com, vegan essentials.com They MAY even carry this brand at a typical grocery store, like Kroger or Publix, but it might be something they would have to order for you. Your best bet is a natural foods store, which would surely carry one brand or another!
HOW NUTRITIOUS IS NUTRITIONAL YEAST?:
Eating a heaping tablespoon of nutritional yeast is like taking a high-potency B-vitamin complex. A serving will generally stock you up with a couple of days’ worth of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B-6, and B-12, and a substantial amount of folic acid. Nutritional yeast also packs a decent amount of fiber & protein into a pretty small, low-calorie package. All in all, as cheesy-flavored toppings for popcorn and pizza go, it’s pretty impressive.
For more info on B-12 click http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB12
Your Vegan Neighbor 