Trying new food, to me, is an important part of experiencing Australia. Most of the time this has been enjoyable. I liked eating fresh figs and blueberry cinnamon ice cream. Unsurprisingly, however, it’s not always so good. Promite falls memorably into this category.
Promite is a brand-name vegetable extract spread, as opposed to the more famous Vegemite, which is a yeast extract spread. Apparently there is some polarization among Australians over which one is superior. Promite is a black spread that does not look very appetizing, but some Australians insist that it’s delicious if you put just a little bit on bread. (The rest prefer Vegemite.) So I cautiously dabbed some on a sliver of buttered toast.
Suppose for a minute that you were to get a bit of warm road tar, generously salted, and put it on perfectly good toast. That’s what Promite tastes like. All thoughts of being polite about my opinion flew out the window as my eyes grew large in alarm. It was bitter and how anyone could consider it edible is quite beyond me. I did manage to swallow the bite, and quickly reached for my glass of milk.
After gulping milk in a desperate attempt to wash away the taste, I looked at the rest of my toast sliver. I should’ve known something that looked like toxic waste sludge would taste the same. “That’s hideous!” I exclaimed as soon as I recovered the ability to speak.
Fortunately the Australian who provided the Promite was amused rather than offended. His American girlfriend doesn’t like it either, and she remarked that it is too salty. I thought that was its most redeeming virtue, since the salt provided a small measure of distraction from the horrifying taste.
I haven’t yet worked up the nerve to try Vegemite.
8 comments:
HI Jenna,
That sounds almost as bad as that tooth pastes my mommy puts on my teethies! Love, Sidka
Haha, now it's me.
Boy, I'm weird.
Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the experiences, minus the Promite. When I stayed in France, it was quite hard (no pun intended) getting used to the bread products. Are you originally from the New England area? I'm sure it probably says where in your profile, but I am too tired to click into another page. If so and if you have any Franco-American in you, or any French American friends, you might have come across a little know delicacy--cretons (pork spread). My fiance despises it, but I have to have it at least once a week! That's what Promite reminds me of, except not nearly as bad of course!
Keep having fun!
I've been trying out some Vegemite. First try on plain toast, not so good. Second try on buttered toast, better. I was able to actually finish both pieces of toast.
My thought was that it tastes like eating a bullion cube. I may not be far off as I've come across recipes that suggest it for improving gravy. Mixed with honey, spread on chicken and then baked sounds okay.
Tonight I'm just going to try putting it on toast and then toasting it with some cheese. Also, I'll see how it goes with rice since I saw a risotto recipe.
Let you know.
Okay, I eat lots of rotini noodles with butter. This time, equal parts Vegemite.
That's 6oz of noodles ( half a box ), tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of Vegemite. Cook the noodle, drop in a bowl over the butter and V, and stir until everything is well coated.
Tasted pretty good to me.
Today's experiment, rice with Vegemite. I may need to put more than two tablespoons in the water to the one cup of rice, I could barely taste anything. That may be a good thing.
I then tried for a post midnight snack something seen on the Vegemite website.
Take bread and spread with butter and Vegemite and then toast it. I used my toaster oven. The idea is to cook the Vegemite a bit. This I find to be quite good actually and I used more than the thin painting of brown, rather I spread it on like jam.
That went so well, next I must add some good cheese slices to it.
Hi! I found your blog when I Googled "Promite," and have to say I'm one American who loves Promite, Vegemite and Marmite, too! I do prefer Promite, if I had to choose, as it's "sweeter," somehow. I like your friend's suggestions as to how to eat it, but hey, if you don't like the taste, it's not gonna matter, LOL!
My dad loved the stuff and when he died 3 years ago, my mom insisted I take home the jar he'd not finished. Funny, I still have it (the smallest one) in my cupboard and haven't eaten out of it but once. I bought a new jar. That jar reminds me of Dad. Now I have a dear Aussie friend (Brisbane area) who sent me Promite and a tube of Vegemite, so I'm good to go for awhile.
I ramble...and so hey, don't eat the "mites" if you don't like 'em, I say! Good that you tried, though (and Vegemite is a stronger taste than Promite, so you'll probably hate it)!
Oh give me Promite any day... yum... so miss it here in the US. :-) I applaud your willingness to at least try it!!
Well, I got some Promite last weekend and I find that it is better than Vegemite. I can spread it on buttered toast out of the jar in more than minuscule quantities and enjoy eating it.
It doesn't look much different from Vegemite to me, but I don't have a jar of that around at the moment.
I has vegetable extract as the top ingredient, but it certainly lists yeast extract too. This falls in line with my opinion that it is another companies variety of Vege/Mar-mite
Made Promite gravy. Tablespoon of Promite, Tablespoon of oil, two cups of water and enough flour to make gravy. Served over biscuits.
Pretty tasty actually.
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