You either love it or you hate it, but Marmite has become an iconic brand and product. First marketed in the United Kingdom over 100 years ago it has been adopted by South Africans as a home brand. You probably grew up with it.

Spread it on your toast, or crackers and loved it since you can remember… or hated it, like me. This sticky, brown savoury paste with it’s distinctly meaty flavour sometimes has one confused as to whether it is in fact halaal…?

In the late 19th century the German scientist, Justus Leibig, discovered that when brewer’s yeast was concentrated, it formed a vegetarian paste that closely resembled meat extract. This extract was first commercially produced in 1902 when the Marmite Food Company Limited was formed.

The concentrated yeast extract paste is 100% vegetarian and gluten free, with no added fat, salt or sugar. Marmite is an excellent source of Vitamin B12, Riboflavin, Niacin and Folic Acid (every 8,5 g serving of Marmite provides 55% of the RDA of Folic Acid) which is good news for pregnant women.

And yes, to answer the question, “Is Marmite Halaal?”, Marmite Original is halaal as listed on the Bokomo website.

Source: Marmite website, Bokomo website, http://halal-or-haram.com