Vegetable nuts are too rich in salt, ranging from 50% to 70% (more than half of the nut is salt!), Moreover, monosodium glutamate is often present as a flavor enhancer. Among the ingredients we also find unsaturated vegetable fats (palm oil, rapeseed, etc.), saturated fats, used as thickeners and sometimes yeast extracts are present. The presence of proteins, on the other hand, is scarce and ranges from 0,5 to 5%
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous
vegetable dice, an undoubtedly convenient and practical product for quickly preparing the broth needed for soups, risottos, soups, velvety or other savory recipes.
On the market there are several possibilities, traditional or organic, but how to orient yourself in choosing the vegetable nut? What to watch out for on the label?
For lack of time we often don't use fresh vegetables to prepare a good vegetable broth but of packaged and ready-to-use products that we find on the shelves of supermarkets, precisely the vegetable cubes. These are products from use very sparingly as they are particularly rich in salt (it can even exceed 50%), various types of fats and in some cases monosodium glutamate, substance with dubious effects on health.
Read also: MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE: 10 REASONS AND WAYS TO AVOID IT
As usual we can choose a better product (or less worse depending on the point of view) by reading with pay particular attention to the labels and nutritional values. In this way we have the possibility to orient the choice on products that at least do not contain glutamate or palm oil, have less salt or within which there are no dyes or flavors.
Let's put it now in comparison the best known and most used vegetable nuts, the ones that you probably also have at home or have ever bought.
COMPARING LABELS
Vegetable nut - Knorr
ingredients: salt, vegetable fats (palm, shea butter, sal butter), flavor enhancers: monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate; yeast extract, 4,0% dehydrated vegetables (carrots, onions, tomatoes, peppers, leeks), dehydrated parsley, spices (celery seed powder, garlic powder, turmeric, pepper, dehydrated parsley root), caramelized sugar, flavorings (contain celery), dextrose.
Vegetable stock - 30% salt - Star
ingredients: Iodized salt (30,5%) (salt, potassium iodate 0,005%) - Vegetable palm fat - Monosodium glutamate flavor enhancer - Vegetables 6,7% (onion 4,6%, carrot 1,1%, leek 0,6, 0,2%, parsley 0,2%, garlic XNUMX%) - Sugar - Yeast extract - Dextrose - Extract for broth - Celery seeds - Flavors (with celery) - Spices. It may contain traces of: milk, soy, fish and eggs.
Vegetable nut - Maggi
ingredients: iodized salt, glucose syrup, (contains gluten), flavor enhancers monosodium glutamate - disodium inosinate - disodium guanylate, extra virgin olive oil, 2% dehydrated vegetables (carrots, onions, parsley, celeriac, leeks, tomatoes), coloring caramel, flavors, citric acid acidity regulator, yeast extract.
Classic Dialbrodo - Dialcos
ingredients: Salt, flavor enhancer: monosodium glutamate; dehydrated vegetables in prop. var. 8,7% (onion, celery), lactose, natural flavors (contain celery), corn oil, color: plain caramel.
Vegetable broth - San Martino
ingredients: Salt, palm oil, sugar, yeast extract, potato starch, dehydrated vegetables 6,1% (in varying proportions of onion, tomato, carrot, celery, leek, parsley), natural flavoring (contains celery), rice flour . It may contain traces of gluten and lactose.
Organic Vegetable Dice – Bauer
ingredients: Sea salt, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil (palm) *, dehydrated vegetables in variable proportions (potato *, carrot *, celery *, parsley *, tomato *, onion *, leek *, garlic *): 15%, yeast extract * 14%. * 100% from organic cultivation
Organic vegetable cube - Alce Nero
ingredients: Salt, cane sugar *, dehydrated vegetables * (13,5%) (onion * 5%, celery * 5%, carrot * 3,2%, parsley * 0,3%), corn starch *, seed oil sunflower *, yeast extract, spices *. * Biological
Organic vegetable broth - Sarchio
Ingredients: potassium chloride, miso *, (soy *, rice *, water, salt, koji), non-hydrogenated palm oil *, dehydrated vegetables in varying proportions * 13,9% (onion *, celery *, carrot *, parsley *), rice flour *, sea salt, corn starch *, maltodextrin *, spices *. * Organic product.
Vegetable cube for organic broth - Rapunzel
ingredients: sea salt, * non-hydrogenated palm fat, yeast extract, * vegetables (4%) (* onions, * carrots, * celery), * parsley, * mace, * turmeric. *biological.
Index
COMPARATIVE TABLE
Now let's compare specifically in the different vegetable nuts: the presence or absence of gluttamate, the percentage of vegetables, the fat used and whether or not sugar is present. This comparison table will make it easier for you.
VEGETABLE NUT, BEWARE OF SALT
In the table you will notice that we did not add salt, on the other hand, an indication of fundamental importance when it comes to vegetable cube. The choice was due to the fact that we noticed how on the label the different producers have the possibility to be more or less precise in indicating the quantity of salt used (which we remember however to be, except in rare cases, about 50% of the product ).
Here's what each of them has on the label:
- Vegetable nut - Knorr 1,1 grams per 100 ml of broth
- Vegetable stock - 30% salt - Star 30,5% iodized salt (it is a nut deliberately with a lower salt content)
- Vegetable nut - Maggi (salt is the first ingredient on the label but the exact quantity is not expressed)
- Classic Dialbrodo - Dialcos (salt per 100 ml 1,2 grams)
- Vegetable broth - San Martino (50 grams per 100 grams)
- Organic Vegetable Dice – Bauer (50 grams per 100 grams)
- Organic vegetable cube - Alce Nero (salt is the first ingredient on the label but the exact quantity is not expressed)
- Organic vegetable broth - Sarchio (0,26 grams per 100 ml of broth)
- Vegetable cube for organic broth - Rapunzel (salt is the first ingredient on the label but the exact quantity is not expressed)
HOME MADE NUT
As always the best solution è make yourself a good vegetable broth with fresh vegetables or alternatively, prepare the vegetable cube at home to be used whenever there is a need. In this article, we present 5 easy recipes that you can experiment with right away.
Read also: VEGETABLE NUT: 5 RECIPES TO PREPARE IT AT HOME
THE EXPERT'S OPINION
We asked ad Alessandro Targhetta, doctor and expert on food intolerances, to provide us with some useful information to keep in mind when we buy vegetable nuts. Here's what he told us:
“Conventional vegetable cubes are too rich in salt, ranging from 50% to 70% (more than half of the nut is salt!), Moreover, monosodium glutamate is often present as a flavor enhancer. Among the ingredients we also find unsaturated vegetable fats (palm oil, rapeseed, etc.), saturated fats, used as thickeners and sometimes yeast extracts are present. The presence of proteins, on the other hand, is scarce and ranges from 0,5 to 5% ".
Are Organic Vegetable Nuts Better?
“They are definitely better but it comes to products always too rich in salt (50%) aeven if marine wholemeal, too sweet (cane sugar, corn starch: 30%), few proteins (1-3%), presence of saturated fats and unsaturated vegetable fats (palm oil). In short, it is better not to use food cubes, but to make a good organic vegetable broth at home, with the vegetables of our trusted greengrocer. If we really want to use vegetable cubes, better organic, but as always we read the label of the ingredients carefully before buying them ".
