- seasoning
- microbial culture medium
yeast extract
Yeast extract
Yeast is composed of cytoplasm that contains nutrients and umami flavor components, and cell walls that surround the cytoplasm like a shell. Yeast extract is the pure cytoplasm extracted from yeast cells. It is an abundant source of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients along with umami flavor components that enrich its taste, such as glutamic acid, inosinic acid, guanylic acid and other amino acids. It is used for a diverse range of applications such as seasonings, health food, livestock feeds and microbial culture media. Yeast extracts with different characteristics can be obtained by different extraction methods such as autolysis and enzymatic degradation. There are also yeast extract products extracted from yeast varieties containing large amounts of specific components, and products with distinctive flavors created by blending or heating.
Research background
The essential ingredients for brewing beer are water, malt, hops and beer yeast. Spent beer yeast removed after being used for brewing contains many of the nutrients from the wort. The Asahi Group was one of the first brewers to focus on the nutritional value of brewer’s yeast, and began researching effective uses for brewing byproducts.
Major research findings
- Development of natural seasonings using umami flavor components
- Farming and culturing yeast with high glutamic acid content
- Development of microbial culture media
Creating a society of health and abundance
Yeast extract is a product made by extracting the cytoplasm from yeast (a microorganism). It is gaining widespread popularity as a natural seasoning, and has been scientifically verified and approved as safe for human consumption by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Yeast extract was first studied as a way to make effective use of a byproduct from brewing beer. But with growing demand for yeast extract in seasonings, Asahi is now actively working on farming and culturing yeast varieties optimized for yeast extract production. We are also blending, heating and processing yeast extracts to create new flavors. Yeast and related products are being used in a growing range of applications. Yeast extract is being used as a culture medium, while dried yeast and yeast cell walls are being used for pet food and livestock feed applications.
Research information on yeast extract
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Meetings
New glutamic acid-rich yeast extract