Yeast Extract in Food Technology

Yeast extract is widely used in dairy products to enhance flavor experiences. It can be found in dairy drinks, ice cream, fermented cream cheese, and natural cheese, with specific functions such as:

• Improving creaminess, especially in low-fat dairy products, without diminishing flavor experience.

• Enhancing overall mouthfeel.

• Boosting cheese notes and rounding out flavor.

• Creating natural, mature cheese flavors in young and fresh cheese products.

Yeast extract is particularly effective for adding flavor to savory dishes. In addition to brothy notes, our yeast extracts allow you to create or emphasize specific flavors. For example, yeast extracts from brewer’s yeast are excellent for:

• Enhancing rich, savory flavors for a flavor explosion.

• Recreating specific flavors, such as seafood, or even highlighting the fresh aroma of citrus fruits.

• Masking bitter notes or unpleasant flavors.

• Adding strong umami flavor, thus improving the overall taste impression of the product.

• Replacing meat, beef, or seasoning extracts – making it suitable for vegan applications.

• Providing a natural protein source for flavor production.

Yeast extract can be used in various soups, stocks, sauces and dressings:

• Creating a perfect base for soups, stocks, sauces and dressings;

• Refining specific flavor notes;

• Emphasizing meaty notes;

• Creating delicious meals with natural umami flavor;

• Enhancing the character of savory sauces;

• Reducing salt content without diminishing the taste experience;

• Providing long-lasting, rich flavors to food products;

• Replacing meat and bone extracts in vegan products.

Yeast extract refines the characteristic flavors of products and creates a balanced, distinctive taste experience. Leiber’s special yeast extracts for meat and seafood products come in a variety of specific flavors such as beef, pork, chicken, savory, roasted meat, and umami.

• Improving the texture and taste of meat products.

• Adding natural umami flavor.

• Optimizing meaty character based on specific requirements.

• Emphasizing distinctive meat notes.

• Masking warmed-over flavors (WOF).

• Rounding out fish and seafood flavors based on clear goals, with specific yeast extracts.

Yeast extract is increasingly used in high-quality ready meals. Food manufacturers focus on natural, wholesome ingredients derived from healthy plant-based raw materials while still creating distinctive, delicious flavors. Yeast extracts have specific functions for ready meals such as:

• Optimizing creaminess in low-fat products.

• Enhancing flavors for cheese, savory, and spicy profiles.

• Ensuring long-lasting flavor intensity in microwaveable ready meals.

• Masking warmed-over flavors (WOF).

• Preserving flavor (e.g., when keeping food warm) in the catering industry.

More consumers are choosing vegetarian or even vegan diets. Keeping up with this trend, yeast extracts provided by Viet Duc offer many flavor options for vegetarian products. Yeast extract is now a key ingredient in meat, fish, or cheese alternatives. They help:

• Masking unwanted flavor profiles of plant-based proteins, e.g., earthy, beany, grassy, or bitter notes.

• Recreating typical meat and roasted notes, from "cooked" to "roasted".

• Creating cheese flavors for cheese substitutes.

• Providing a lasting umami flavor to food products.

Overall, yeast extracts help develop essential flavors and improve nutritional profiles.

Light yeast extracts (powder)

Taste profile

• Neutral, umami (flavour-harmonising)

Applications

• Suitable for reducing salt content 
• Suitable for achieving a ‘taste-masking effect’
• Suitable for emphasising individual notes

Dosage

• Low dosage 0.2-0.5%

Benefits

• Neutral taste profile
• Flavour-harmonising effect
• Strong umami effect
• Enhances creaminess
• Clean label
• Kosher and halal
• Gluten-free in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 828/2014

Dark yeast extracts (powder)

Taste profile

• Roasted, meaty notes

Applications

• Seasoning blends
• Gravies, snacks and piquant formulations
• Sausages and meat products 
• Fried or roasted foods
• Vegetarian and vegan products

Dosage

• Low dosage of 0.8-2.0%

Benefits

• Beef extract substitute
• Specific, roasted beef taste profiles
• Natural dark colouring (caramel substitute)
• Clean label
• Kosher and halal
• Gluten-free in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 828/2014
• GMO-free

Light yeast extracts (powder) 

Taste profile

• Various brothy flavours

Applications

• Soups, stocks and bouillons
• Sauces and gravies
• Sausages and meat products
• Piquant food applications
• Vegetarian and vegan products

Dosage

• Low dosage of 0.8-2.5%

Benefits

• Mild, brothy basic taste
• Can be combined with various umami effects
• Clear water soluble
• Clean label
• Kosher and halal
• Gluten-free in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 828/2014
• GMO-free

Dark yeast extracts (paste)

Taste profile

• Distinctly meaty notes

Applications

• Gravies and spicy pastes
• Dark, spicy, savoury foods
• Sausages and meat products
• Vegetarian and vegan products   

Dosage

• Low dosage of 1.0-2.5%

Benefits

• Various taste profiles
• Distinctly meaty flavour
• Cost savings due to paste form
• Kosher and halal
• Gluten-free in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 828/2014
• GMO-free 

Emmental, cheddar, blue cheese: Leiber’s specially developed Cheese Booster- based on selected, pure Leiber Brewers’ Yeast extracts – intensifies characteristic cheese profiles, even at very low dosages. This product can successfully fortify the typical cheesy taste in dry, liquid or paste-like formulations.

Applications

• Spreads, sauces, dressings
• Dips, snacks, pastry fillings
• Liquid and paste-like products
• Cheese formulations
• Cheese seasoning blends
• Non-dairy cheese and cheese formulations

Dosage

- Cheese Booster Plus:

• 0.5–0.8%

 
- Cheese Booster Vegan:

• 1.0–2.0%

Benefits

• Suitable for all kinds of cheese profiles
• Replaces 20–50% of cheese powder (depending on the cheese type) in the recipe
• Cost savings for cheese formulations
• Clean label
• Kosher and halal
• Gluten-free in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 828/2014
• GMO-free