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Comment by twic | Hacker News Reader

I've come to think of miso paste as a distant cousin of the Marmite family. Less salty, less acrid, still packed with umami, and with much more discernible flavour. A more civilised cousin, really. Although it's not traditional, you can use them in similar ways; miso paste on buttered toast is quite nice.

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I am probably way off here but I also think of Norwegian brunost or Swedish messmör. Essentially boiled down whey.

It is certainly much sweeter than vege/marmite, and I am not sure the remainig taste could be classified as umami. But it has a very distinctive taste.

And, if I am completely wrong, at least I can claim that the consistency and color is similar to vege/marmite.

That's a really interesting comparison. I think brunost has a lot of flavours that are nothing like Marmite - it's creamy, it's sweet, and it's a bit sour. But they are certainly similar in that they have a sort of concentratedness to them, and in that sensible people hate them.

Is that like gaitost, the brown whey cheese?

It’s basically solid whey that’s gone through a Maillard reaction to make a sweet, salty cheese like stuff.

We made some a few years back, but couldn’t get it to turn out as aell as the commercial stuff.

I also made it once. The electricity for boiling all that liquid should be what makes up most of the manufacuring cost. Hm I should ask Fjällbrynt how they cope with that.

If I remember correctly the trick was in the stirring. Either not stir at all (with the risk of burning), or stir all the time to keep it from crystalizing.

Edit: and yes geitost is the goat-whey version.

That is why my comment was full of caveats! I also felt like maybe the taste was not really comparable. But I think you nailed it with the last sentence!

When I make a grilled cheese sandwich, I like to smear one slice of bread thinly with miso paste (and the other with dijon). Vegemite suddenly made sense once I realized it is used in much the same way.

20 years ago I introduced a Japanese person to Vegemite and, I think because I described it to him as like miso, he really liked it.

I wonder if the shock value is derived from an expectation of chocolatey sweetness. If you’re expecting Nutella, Vegemite is guaranteed to disappoint.

i second this. to me marmite (and all the rest) is inedible, but i really like miso paste

miso paste with raw vegetable sticks like cucumber, carrot or cabbage is awesome.

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