Marmite

I think it was always this consistency but there was a time not long ago that it was a bit runnier. They seem to have gone back to the original recipe. At school, we got marmite now and then to spread on our bread but it was already mixed in with margarine and was a pale coffee colour. You could soften it by mixing it in with butter, the colour will change as you press oxygen into the yeast, it will become paler, but will be easier (less sticky)to spread.

I like Marmite and peanut butter (or almond butter sandwiches). I like them best with lots of rocket or watercress.
😋

My husband has marmite spread thickly on toast with black pepper sprinkled on top. 🤢. I prefer mine more thinly spread and I thought it was just me who was having trouble spreading it these days! I've taken to putting the marmite on the toast and then putting the butter on!

Witzend! 😂. Your name is probably on a list with Interpol or something. 👀 😉

ShazzaKanazza Will be trying your ideas.

I have a large jar and it seems the same to me

Marmite gives me a bad conscience as ought to use it but I prefer Oxo cubes.

My DD has just bought a jar of reduced salt marmite, but it doesn't taste much different to me. I put a dollop of it in allsorts of stews, meat sauces etc. Isn't it supposed to be umami or something?

I have also discovered peanut butter marmite. Now, that is definitely to die for. A jar and a spoon are all I need!!

This sounds rather strange but I scoop out the Marmite with a spoon, then push it off the spoon with a knife, but spread it with the back of the spoon. It doesn’t tear up with bread/crisp bread that way. Well, it works for me!

DH commented only last night on the consistency of Marmite seeming different now. He said it has become a lot harder to spread across toast/bread.

I definitely don't find any difference in consistency in the big tubs.

I think the consistency changed when they introduced the plastic squeezy marmites. I preferred the stiffer version.

I have Marmite on toast for breakfast and have noticed the consistency has changed, it's sticky and stringy as you pull it out of the jar and difficult to spread, ripping up the toast! I've eaten it all my life and it's definitely different now

I use aldi or lidl it is runny but tastes the same

Marmite is not the same as it was in the 70’s and before. It was much stronger and darker and a smearing on toast was enough. Now it’s milder and the consistency is softer needing to be spread more thickly (the jar does not last as long!) and so benefits the company financially I’m sure. Definitely not the same product it was back then but I still like it!

Took some thought, but yes it is harder to spread.

I have a cousin who lunches every day with marmite on a roll - she’s being eating it for years.

I remember as it being dark brown but with a clear appearance - now it is cloudy brown.
Maybe the modern version has been over processed with ingredients that are cheaper to manufacture.

I’ve noticed it’s got very hard spread on buttered toast. I sometimes soften it in the microwave, which makes it easier to spread.

Same here with Morrisons own brand

SueDonim

. Blondiescot!

You’ve reminded me that I also once took Christmas pudding to the US. That was rather bomb-like, too. I got hauled out of line to explain what exactly a Christmas pudding was to a ten-foot tall & broad security guard who had a rusty knife poised ready to plunge into my lovingly homemade pudding! 😱 After a grilling, I was finally allowed in.

I used to take Marmite to a sister in the US, and once had trouble explaining it what it was to the immigration chap. ‘Something you spread on toast.’

But he still looked bemused. ‘Like jam?’ (Not their usual word - AFAIK American jam is ‘jelly’.
‘Yes, a bit like jam,’ I said, thinking ‘Does it matter?’
He waved us through.

A different matter when ages ago, same sister and her bloke had a small, summer-season gift shop in Provincetown, a very touristy town in Cape Cod. At the time we were living in Oman, so she asked whether there was anything typically Omani we could bring for them to sell.

So I took a biggish bag of frankincense, which comes from a tree in the S of Oman, and which they sold by the kilo in the souk.
I declared it at immigration - wouldn’t have dared not to - the poor chap had no idea what to make of it. Despite the Wise Men associations, I don’t think he’d ever heard of frankincense. It looks a bit like large crystals of the brown coffee sugar you used to see sometimes.

I did explain as well as poss, but I swear he was wondering whether it was freeze-dried crack or something, but his eyes glazed over and eventually he waved us through - presumably for the sake of a quiet life!

Foxygloves

I can never really decide whether I like Marmite or not.
It’s a bit Marmite

😂

It’s def changed it’s consistency and doesn’t now spread well at all.We eat loads of it but now only spread it on hot toast, the only way not to get great blobs of it which are unspreadable.
The taste seems the same.It’s thicker so something’s changed.

Avalon25’s experience of Marmite spread thickly reminds me of Mother in Law and the peanut butter. She gazed at it in disgust and said it was nothing like butter! Father in Law tasted it and agreed. It didn’t taste a bit like butter!

I have a young relative who lived in Paris. He loves Marmite, but could not get it there. (This was a few years ago, so correct me if things have changed) After a visit to me I sent him home with two of the very large jars of Marmite. Customs confiscated it because it was classed as 'liquid'.
Later in the year, a friend who was crossing to France by ferry took the replacement Marmite over.