what have they done to bisto

DJIMI TRARORE

The amount of salt in it lately is absolutely disgusting,no flavor left just salt,one is not amused:(:(:(:(

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Buy the reduced salt version with 10g per 100g.

Advbrd

Legacy Mushy Point wrote: »

Buy the reduced salt version with 10g per 100g.

That is still 10 per cent salt.

L1011

Advbrd wrote: »

That is still 10 per cent salt.

In the powder. You dilute it, hugely.

Its 14.33% in the non-reduced salt version, which is a fairly significant increase.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Advbrd wrote: »

That is still 10 per cent salt.

If you are going to make gravy with granules then you'll get those salt levels. 13g per 100g in Knorr.

dudara

Not a Consumer Issue - moved to the Food forum

dudara

allthedoyles

Isn't there mad amounts of salt in many foods and sauces nowadays ?

We never put the salt container on the table anymore , and never miss it .

Quixo granules says 14% salt per serving

Milly33

Glad you said that, i thought twas just me.. The amount of salt added to all stuff like this lately is mad.. I got one from Aldi and it was just yuck threw out the pack, went and got the Bisto one more like the powder than granules and found that just as bad..

I think those stock pots are the same. There is a loverly stock you can get and they do gravy too I am nearly sure, I think it is Marigold brand which is quite nice..

Advbrd

Milly33 wrote: »

Glad you said that, i thought twas just me.. The amount of salt added to all stuff like this lately is mad.. I got one from Aldi and it was just yuck threw out the pack, went and got the Bisto one more like the powder than granules and found that just as bad..

I think those stock pots are the same. There is a loverly stock you can get and they do gravy too I am nearly sure, I think it is Marigold brand which is quite nice..

Marigold bullion has (I think) 17% salt content.

Advbrd

If it's not salt, it's sugar. If it's low fat it's probably salt and sugar. Then we have good old phenylalanine and Aspartame. MSG is a good one also. I'm not sure what we are eating anymore but I tend not to worry about it too much. I cook a lot of food from scratch but do use stock cubes and bullion.

Milly33

I didnt think the marigold was that bad now.. It is about the only one i can manage..Id be the same Advrb low salt means it is laced with something else, and low fat is just tevo and those horrible fake taste...I still go by the clause of if you can read the ingredients on the packet and know what they are then its safe if not dont buy it

rubadub

Milly33 wrote: »

I still go by the clause of if you can read the ingredients on the packet and know what they are then its safe if not dont buy it

Problem here is that the exact same product could have an ingredients list which looks totally different depending on how its written.

e.g. McDonalds get awful flack for their ingredients, this is mainly because they are honest, and tend to give several names and the E numbers along with those names. Their ingredients are pretty similar to the same thing made from typical stuff in a supermarket -i.e. 100% beef burger, processed buger bun, heinz ketchup, easi singles. If an ingredient is below a certain % they do not have to delcare it either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number#Colloquial_use

In some European countries, "E number" is sometimes used informally as a pejorative term for artificial food additives, and products may promote themselves as "free of E numbers". This is incorrect, because many components of natural foods have E numbers (and the number is a synonym for the chemical component), e.g. vitamin C (E300) and lycopene (E160d).

on some label you may see E621 monosodium glutamate (Sodium 2-aminopentanedioate), , another could say yeast extract.

Hidden Names For MSG And Free Glutamic Acid:

Names of ingredients that always contain processed free glutamic acid.

Glutamic Acid (E 620)2
Glutamate (E 620)
Monosodium Glutamate (E 621)
Monopotassium Glutamate (E 622)
Calcium Glutamate (E 623)
Monoammonium Glutamate (E 624)
Magnesium Glutamate (E 625)
Natrium Glutamate
Yeast Extract
Anything hydrolyzed
Any hydrolyzed protein
Calcium Caseinate
Sodium Caseinate
Yeast Food
Yeast Nutrient
Autolyzed Yeast
Gelatin
Textured Protein
Soy Protein Isolate
Whey Protein Isolate
Anything :protein
Vetsin
Ajinomoto

Names of ingredients that often contain or produce processed free glutamic acid

Carrageenan (E 407)
Bouillon and broth
Stock
Any flavors or flavoring
Maltodextrin
Citric acid, Citrate (E 330)
Anything ultra-pasteurized
Barley malt
Pectin (E 440)
Protease
Anything enzyme modified
Anything containing enzymes
Malt extract
Soy sauce
Soy sauce extract
Anything protein fortified
Seasonings

As ingredients are listed in order of greatest first a common trick, esp. with cereal producers, is to list sugar under many different names.

Milly33

Yeah but again if you can understand them dont eat it... I was digsuted one day when I looked at the back of the micro popcorn from Aldi and the list of ingredients I was like wtf its popcorn, so stopped buying it.. I get all the sneaky things out there, someone pointed out a really abvious one the other day too I think twas that is the percentage as you say is very low they dont have to tell you..

B0jangles

I stopped using bisto last year because it was just so.damn.salty; I switched to using potato starch, which is the main bisto thickener without any of the unwanted extras. If the gravy looks very pale and unappetizing, I add a tiny drop of gravy browning.

This is the potato starch I use, you get it in any asian supermarket:

rubadub

B0jangles wrote: »

This is the potato starch I use, you get it in any asian supermarket:

I have been trying to find this, was not in the 4 asian supermarkets I tried. Very surprising as I thought it was a bog standard ingredient to have.

Whistlejacket

The Eastern European food section of my Supervalu has bags of potato starch.

It's a handy thickener plus a little in the flour when making yeast bread gives it a nice texture (thanks to Nigella for that tip as she recommends using some potato water in bread dough).

B0jangles

rubadub wrote: »

I have been trying to find this, was not in the 4 asian supermarkets I tried. Very surprising as I thought it was a bog standard ingredient to have.

Ah boo... It's available in both asian stores in Bray if that's any use at all

rubadub

B0jangles wrote: »

Ah boo... It's available in both asian stores in Bray if that's any use at all

I am down there the odd time, thanks.

I found an old thread saying health food shops, and see H&B have it listed

http://www.hollandandbarrett.ie/shop/product/holland-barrett-potato-starch-60018188

DJIMI TRARORE

B0jangles wrote: »

I stopped using bisto last year because it was just so.damn.salty; I switched to using potato starch, which is the main bisto thickener without any of the unwanted extras. If the gravy looks very pale and unappetizing, I add a tiny drop of gravy browning.

This is the potato starch I use, you get it in any asian supermarket:

Thanks for the tip,i"ll give it a shot,it cant taste any worse than the bisto

rubadub

I got "potato flour" in the health shop in stillorgan shopping centre. I am 99% sure it is potato starch, it is certainly not finely powdered "instant mash" which I was worried about. I got some of the last of my starch (the Chinese one shown above) and some of the "flour" and put them both in glasses with a little water and boiled in the microwave, they both formed a clear thick paste in the bottom of the glass which was tasteless and did not readily mix into the water. Instant mash does readily mix and get watered down and is not clear.

Pack says "rainbow natural" on the front, "potato flour (farina)" and "packed for wholefoods ltd", http://www.wholefoods.ie/ on the back. But it is also says it is 9% salt!, also says 0.05g fat, 0g protein, 0g fibre, carbs 80g, carbs which sugar 0g. This would suggest it is processed starch. I wondered it the 9g salt was a typo though, and meant to be 0.9g, seems a lot, but adding the figures means its about 10% moisture which seems right for flour. But maybe as its starch there is something in its makeup that does not fall under the usual listed fat/protein/carb/fibre. The packaging is poor BTW so have a jar or tub ready if you buy it.

This starch has similar figures but 0g sodium http://www.bdfoods.ie/default.aspx?pid=877

And for further confusion the H&B one called starch has figures I would have expected to be in instant mash
http://www.hollandandbarrett.ie/shop/product/holland-barrett-potato-starch-60018188

Energy 1432KJ/342Kcal
Fat 0.3g
of which saturates 0.1g
Carbohydrates 77.0g
of which sugars 3.5g
Fibre 5.9g
Protein 6.9g
Salt 0.02g

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_starch

Potato starch is a very refined starch, containing minimal protein or fat.

DJIMI TRARORE wrote: »

Thanks for the tip,i"ll give it a shot,it cant taste any worse than the bisto

If you get it be careful how you use it. Bisto has potato starch as the main ingredient as mentioned, however it is in granules and I think it is mixed in some way so you can just add boiling water and it turns into gravy as expected. However I have had that asian brand of starch and added it to a boiling liquid of chinese spices & sauce to thicken it and it instantly formed little horrible dumpling type things.

You have to mix it with cold water first and then add it to something hot stirring well while adding, or else start off cold and gradually bring up to temp stirring a lot.

Back on Bisto, they have "Bisto Best" which I thought was much nicer, the main ingredient in bisto best is maltodextrin, next is potato starch. In the regular bisto they are switched around, potato starch first.

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=258006276
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254880806

I would use a lot more than the 50ml portion size they quote, a common trick to make the figures seem lower. A pub shot of vodka is 35.5ml, a pub baileys in Ireland is 50ml. I reckon I would have 100ml gravy.

Maltodextrin can be got in bulk in homebrew shops

arian

Are we all talking about the same thing?

Bisto powder or granules?

Typical Bisto granules

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254880806
0,47g salt/50ml

Bisto powder

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254880743
0,67g salt/50ml

It's a cheat to quote per 50ml. Depending on the meal, I'd have a lot more than rubadub's 100ml; but then I like my gravy

The granules contain palm oil, which some people despise.

DJIMI TRARORE

Its the powder i meant in the OP

rubadub

arian wrote: »

It's a cheat to quote per 50ml. Depending on the meal, I'd have a lot more than rubadub's 100ml; but then I like my gravy

I like mine too, I had to think about my 100ml estimate, I was thinking it was usually made in a pyrex jug which was 500 or 600ml, and did 5 people and not full.

The other thing I wonder about is if their recipe is how I make it.

Usage
1 Put 4 heaped teaspoons (20g) of Bisto granules into a measuring jug - for extra thick gravy add more granules at this point.

2 Add 280ml (1/2 pint) of boiling water to the granules.

I am guessing they might also instruct you to make very watery gravy to further lower the salt per portion figures.

Jayop

DJIMI TRARORE wrote: »

Its the powder i meant in the OP

The granuals are great if you use stock from the veg and meat to make it instead of just boiled water. Makes a delicious gravy imo.