What is the Difference Between Nutritional Yeast (Nooch) and Yeast?

The simple answer? The yeast in nooch is dead/inactive, while ‘regular’ yeast is alive.

Yeasts are single celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. As fungi, they are commonly found out in nature, in soil and on many plant surfaces. Especially in habitats where flower nectar and fruits are abundant. We are likely to be surrounded by fungi in our daily lives a lot more than we think. It’s in the dough bakers use to make our breads rise, at the supermarket in the form of edible mushrooms, in the fungi used to create antibiotics for medicinal use, and to ripen blue cheese. 

The most common trait amongst all these products is that the fungi in them are alive, mostly. 

Yeast feeds on the sugars available within its environment, this is what helps the yeast grow and expand.

During the production of nooch the yeast feeding on sugar beets and sugar cane is also alive… UNTIL, the process leads to pasteurification. It is at this point in time that the yeast cultures harvested for nutritional yeast are rendered inactive through the application of high temperatures of pasteurisation. They will no longer grow, or eat any more sugars.

Should you decide to add nutritional yeast to your dough or a beer brew it simply won’t take effect, oops!