More than you ever wanted to know about Vegemite.

(The main differences between Marmite and Vegemite are that the latter is Australian and tastes awful.)

Careful - you're treading on almost religious issues here.

There are 3 types of yeast extract in NZ/Australia - vegemite, marmite and promite

They're basically all the same, BUT.

Speaking as somone brought up on vegemite, I find the difference between vege/marmite is that marmite has a more pronounced caramel taste. (That's what the colouring is, BTW)

Vegemite eaters will eat marmite at a pinch, but marmite eaters tend not to be able to stomach vegemite. Promite is a relatively recent introduction to me, and I've never met anyone who's eaten it as a kid. It leads to a wierd situation where we have 2 large jars of vegemite/marmite in the house, plus a small one of promite for occasional use.

One last thing. Due to a couple of recessive genes I can't taste bitter, so my perception may be skewed a bit. (Bitrex? What's that?)

(Favourite drink - bitters and tonic. LOTS of bitters...:-)

Following up on my own posts....

Ingredients:

Vegemite: (Kraft General Foods NZ Ltd)

Yeast extract, salt, malt extract, colour(caramel), vegetable flavours, vitamins (niacin, thiamine, riboflavin)

Marmite: (Sanatarium Health Food Company, NZ)

Yeast, sugar, salt, wheatgerm extract, mineral salt (508) colour(caramel), herbs, spices, vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin)

It's also got a small note under the ingredients: "100% vegetarian" (but then, what do you expect from a company owned by the 7th Day Adventist church?)

Promite: (Masterfoods of Australia)

Vegetable protein extract, sugar, yeast, natural colour(caramel) salt, thickener (Wheat starch), emulsifier (Glycerol monostearate) spices, added vitamins, water

Alan Brown dogbowl@dogbox.acme.gen.nz