SALTY EXTRACTS

Products: Bouillon cubes, granulated broth, yeast extract
Aroma: all salty extracts are, obviously salty. They tend also to be spicy and piquant.
Use: salty extracts are popular products and substitute for salt in piquant dishes. Besides seasoning soups and stews, they are used to spice meat and fish dishes, vegetable dishes, sauces, soufflés and savory cakes.
Buying/storing: their best-before data is always printed on the package. The products should be stored in a dry, dark and cool place, such as a cupboard. The jars should be closed very tightly because the extracts absorb humidity from the air, which makes measuring the instant powder more difficult.


BOUILLON CUBES / GRANULATED BROTH
- History: Bouillon cubes are classic soup spices. Sold by the Maggi company for the first time in 1990, they have been an integral part of its assortment ever since. Bouillon cubes became the basis of soups and stews in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but lately they have been replaced by granulated broth or instant broth. Frequently substituted for salt, bouillon cubes remain essential ingredients in broths.
- Manufacturing method: Bouillon cubes consist of thickened meat or vegetable extract. The water is drained and the extract is freeze-dried in cubes. Bones, meat, and cubed vegetable are roasted in fat and placed in water to simmer. The individual ingredients slowly release substances while simmering. All is seasoned with spices and salt. If industrially prepared, this broth is thickened and freeze-dried.

YEAST EXTRACT
- History: in the 19th century, Justus von Liebig, a German chemist, and Louis Pasteur, A French biologist and chemist, invented a procedure industrial extracts which could last a long time. Yeast extract as a spice experienced its renaissance at the beginning of the last century along with the discovery of vitamin B and its effect on human organism because yeast is rich in B-vitamin.
- Manufacturing method: There are two methods for manufacturing yeast extract. In autolysis, 122F (50C) warm water is added toyeast cultures. At this temperature, yeast cells die, but the enzymes of cell contens remain active. The yeast enzymes erode the cell contents remain active. The yeast enzymes erode the cell walls and the contents can leave while the proteins decompose into amino acids. The liquid is consequently filtered and evaporated. Acid hydrolysis is a chemical process in which yeast cultures are heated and neutralized with hydrochloride acids, caustic soda or with sodium carbonate. The decomposition and fermentation of yeast cultures are accelerated in the second process.

Tips for cooking:
Use salty extracts instead of salt, but watch out! Too much salt is overpowering. Many instant powders are added to cold dishes while others only to hot liquids. When preparing a cold dish, pay attention to the directions on the package.