It is just me, or… (#n in a series…)
For those of you who know and enjoy marmite (i.e., you’re in the UK or are probably from the UK), I have an important and most urgent question:
Have they changed the recipe?
I ask because it doesn’t taste as potent to me any more, and neither does it seem as dense in colour or consistency as it used to. It is almost as though they’ve diluted its wonderful offensiveness (to some) for broader appeal. Is it my imagination? Have you noticed this too? Opinions are welcome here… this is a matter of the utmost importance. I need to know. The utter impenetrability of the mystery of the love marmite is something that should be preserved and protected for generations to come!
-cvj
If you’ve clicked onto this site – to read this fascinating blog – it’s a pretty safe guess to presume you love the mighty-M. On that basis here is an unashamed plug for my just published book. It’s: The Mish-Mash Dictionary of Marmite: an anecdotal A-Z of ‘Tar-in-a-Jar’. As you can tell from the title, it’s a book for all tastes!
Hi…local meaning what? US? This was bought in a standard supermarket in the UK, a pretty standard size, and used pretty immediately…. (And weirdly, I had the jar in my hand while adding some to my cooking at the moment your comment was written.)
-cvj
Could it be a local peculiarity? The size of the bottle in the picture is the size you can get in supermarkets. I usually get the biiig bottles that are sold in the british stores down at Santa Monica Place (and presumably imported). Those ones definitely produce the thick gooey mess, when mixed with butter, that I remember from childhood.
I am inclined to agree – I too seem to spread Marmite thicker these days. I have just done the taste test: applied neat, straight to the tongue, and it doesn’t make me wince. So, I suspect pandering to populist palates. You could, of course, call the “Marmite loveline”, who are apparently ready and waiting for all Marmite-related queries…
I now spread Marmite more thickly than I used to, but I have attributed this to an increase in my general “Britishness” rather than an increase in the mildness of Marmite. Other symptoms include a preference for tea first thing in the morning, rather than coffee, which was what I used to have, in my younger days…
–IP
Marmite started appearing in squeezy bottles a year or two back. It is possible that they thinned it a bit for that.
I have several enormous jars that are mostly about 3 years old, so I’m not equipped to notice recent changes myself.
I once lived with a Marmite connoisseur. There were, apparently, many factors:
Obviously what country you bought it in matters. But you say in England.
Age, and temperature: warm marmite ages differently, apparently. Leaving the kitchen computer terminal, which was beneath the marmite cupboard, was something you got into trouble about.
The freshness of the bread. For toast made from stale bread, there was a different jar to that reserved for today’s bread. (I don’t recall the sign of the age correlation, sadly.)
But this was a few years ago, so I don’t know from him whether they have changed the recipe…
I hate marmite and I’ve have had a look at the wifes and yep it still the same horrible stuff. Here it is; in a big jar and in a small jar and somehow she seems to have stopped the small jar leaving the country… http://quantumnonsense.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-hate-marmite.html
“Never let your toast go naked
or your bread go bare…
Open up this marmite Jar and spread it everywhere”
Naked or Marmite? Definitely Naked!
Actually, it is from England. Bought in Sainsbury’s.
-cvj
I don’t think so… not based on my current jar. But admittedly that came from Tesco in England. It looks like you have to buy the tiny jars that are all we can get here in North America, and I haven’t had to buy one of those for over a year. Still working my way through the full-size English jar.
Just a warning: if you’re flying, Marmite has to go in your checked baggage.
I have not tested this, but I have a friend who is convinced the potency is affected by storage temperature… with the marmite being strongest when thickest (at colder temperatures). Could the problem be California?
Well I get mine from WHsmith’s store in Paris, so what do I know.
But from where I’m standing the thing’s as agressive as ever.
Though some time ago, I remember they put this sign “new recipe” on the bottle…never noticed any difference.
==> Clifford don’t be mad but I tink your bottle is a fraud.
You might be right Clifford. As one who spreads Marmite very thin, more of a savour than a flavour, I hadn’t noticed. A quick test with the undiluted product seems to bear out what you say though; either that or the years have taken their toll on my (and possibly your) sense of taste.