Need help identifying an ingredient

[sunnyb]

Hi there,

We recently had some food the other day at a cafe, and need help identifying the ingredient.

Below are some of the clues to the challenge that the cafe is holding, but I was hoping to get my hands on the ingredient to try my own version of their meal before it gets announced next month.

Clue 1: It tastes nutty, but it doesn’t have nuts in it
Clue 2: You usually eat this ‘ingredient’ with your toast
Clue 3: The ingredient itself has a similar colour as soy sauce

My guess is it’s coconut butter, as it tasted like it, but could it be anything else?

Thanks

 

[taxlady]

Welcome to Discuss Cooking sunnyb. Am I understanding this correctly? Did you have some food that included this ingredient? If so, could you tell what it tasted like? Was it salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami, a combo?

 

[HeyItsSara]

Jam? Maple syrup?

 

[taxlady]

If it is the colour of soy sauce, then I don't think it is just coconut butter. That's usually a whitish colour.

 

[dragnlaw]

They said you usually eat this with toast.

What were you eating at the time - as in what did you eat it with/on/beside? Was it a flavouring or sauce on another ingredient?

Bovril - Vegamite? but I can't believe you wouldn't recognize the taste...
(but doesn't taste nutty... just disgusting)
my ex ate it on toast all the time.

Welcome to DC, sunnyb!

 

[jennyema]

They said you usually eat this with toast.

What were you eating at the time - as in what did you eat it with/on/beside? Was it a flavouring or sauce on another ingredient?

Bovril - Vegamite? but I can't believe you wouldn't recognize the taste...
(but doesn't taste nutty... just disgusting)
my ex ate it on toast all the time.

Welcome to DC, sunnyb!

I was going to say Bovril or Vegemite. I like it! I think it tastes sort of nutty, in addition to salty.

Also, the OP is in Australia where Vegemite on toast is popular

 

[HeyItsSara]

peanut butter? peanuts are not nuts - they are legumes

 

[dragnlaw]

I was going to say Bovril or Vegemite. I like it! I think it tastes sort of nutty, in addition to salty.

Also, the OP is in Australia where Vegemite on toast is popular

Never thought of it as being nutty, but maybe...

I might have liked Bovril/Vegemite had I known it was savoury as in really salty. But my fiance (at the time) just smeared this dark paste on some bread and said "try it! You'll love it! It's great!"

From the colour and on the bread, I assumed it was sweet, like a jam or ... I don't know, Nutrella was not invented yet, so... But my first big bite was shockingly salty I almost gagged. Couldn't stand the stuff after that, especially watching my, by that time, husband snarf it down in the morning.

I do use it for cooking, in that respect I love it, but eat just the paste, yech!

 

[taxlady]

But, Bovril and Vegemite aren't that similar, are they? Bovril is basically concentrated beef juices and Vegemite is made from spent brewer's yeast and vegis. Vegemite is very similar to Marmite.

 

[sunnyb]

All are good suggestions, let me check them out.

It tastes coconutty + creamy.

This is where we had it, and it is the white one: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb19KEypz14/?hl=en

You can see the hints they have given in the newer posts since they posted that one. That’s why we were confused about it being the same colour as Soy Sauce. Any clue what it could be?

 

[karadekoolaid]

I´d say it´s got to be Vegemite, although peanuts are not strictly "nuts".
Vegemite (and its superior cousin, Marmite) are dark brown and frequently spread on toast.
Nutty flavour? Well that´s contentious, perhaps. More umami than is good for you but yes, slightly nutty.

 

[dragnlaw]

taxy, if you were to take a spoonful of each of those in a blind test you would be hard put to put names to each.

Now, put a spoonful into a cup of hot water and you certainly would. Delicious consomme, instantly. I have all the Bovril liquids in my cupboard and often use them, especially to flavour rice, depending on the main ingredient, beef, chicken, vegie.

If someone wants to do a test, why don't you spread some Better than Boullion on toast and see how you like it?