When I went away to boarding school for my highschool years I was introduced to what I thought at the time was a strange dorm room snack.
All the girls were sprinkling this funny yellow substance on their popcorn each night. They called it Brewer’s Yeast…which I found out later was actually nutritional yeast. At first I wasn’t sure but then the taste started to grow on me (no pun intended!). Now I cannot imagine eating my popcorn without it!
Nutrional yeast is a good source of protein and is high in the B-complex vitamins that are hard to find outside of animal sources. This makes it an ideal food for vegetarians and vegans. We eat it on toast, baked potatoes, and of course popcorn. It is also used in many vegetarian recipes as a substitute for cheese in sauces.
It comes in large flake, small flake and powdered form. We use the large flake. I get ours through our co-op and it is also available in the bulk food section of most of our markets around here.
When we began our Real Food Challenge popcorn was substituted for other processed snacks. I get organic multi-colored kernels through my food co-op. The kids love the different colors…white, yellow, and dark purple!
We air-pop the corn and then drizzle on a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of melted butter or margarine and olive oil. Next is sea salt and then finally nutritional yeast.
Popcorn is an easy, inexpensive, and whole grain snack that everyone loves….
Next time you get out the popper considering trying it with a little nutritional yeast…you just may find your new favorite snack!
Kim can also be found at the inadvertent farmer where she raises organic fruits, veggies, critters, kids, and…a camel!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Xan Nelson, Xan Nelson. Xan Nelson said: Butter-free, vegan popcorn: http://bit.ly/8ZSxNu from @inadvertentfarm [...]
I will get some the next time I’m in town and try it. I don’t particularly get satisfaction from plain popcorn and I shouldn’t have the butter and Beekeeper shouldn’t have the salt. Thanks for the tip.
If you can have olive oil I have used it in my spritzer bottle and just spritzed the oil on and had it with just that and nutritional yeast…it was delicious! Kim
Cheddar is also the best topping for popcorn! (although unhealthy)
Yum. I used to eat nutritional yeast a lot, but have forgotten about it these last few years.
Question: (which may be stupid) is there any risk in eating ‘too much’ yeast? As in, can it mess with the balances of yeasts in our bodies and result in anything nasty?
mmmm, we call it hippy popcorn. I love eating popcorn for dinner and switch up salt with dulse flakes [seaweed], cayenne for spice & always nutritional yeast. The butter helps it all stick to the popped corn.
hmmmmmmmm, will try the seeweed