Nutritional yeast is a fungus, kind of in the same way a mushroom is a fungus. It is a deactivated yeast, meaning you can’t make bread dough rise with it. Nutritional yeast is cultured with beet molasses and sugar cane for a week before it is harvested. Then it is washed, dried and packaged for sale. It can be bought in most health food stores.
Nutritional yeast is a good source of protein and B-complex vitamins. It is a complete protein, which makes it popular with vegetarians and vegans. It is also a low fat, sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and sodium-free product.
It has a nutty, cheesy taste with makes it a good substitute for cheese. This makes it a great topping for popcorn, pasta dishes or just about anywhere you would use Parmesan cheese. Nutritional yeast makes a wonderful treat when you add two tablespoons to your milk or protein shakes. It is also delicious in mashed potatoes, replacing the butter and cream. Some pet food companies even use it to boost flavor in their products.
People who want to eat and maintain a whole food diet use nutritional yeast because it tastes good and adds a nutritional boost to their diet. It tastes great added to quinoa dishes, in salad dressings along with flax seed oil, or just sprinkled on their free range meats.
A serving of nutritional yeast is about two tablespoons full. One serving has approximately 60 calories, 5 grams of carbohydrate, 4 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein. It will also give you 670 percent of the RDA of vitamin B-1, 590 percent RDA of B-2, 280 percent RDA of B-3, 560 percent RDA of B-6 and 400 percent RDA of B-12.
Sources:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/nutritional-yeast-one-of-my-favorite-things.html http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323565/2