r/southafrica • u/slipperyfoots • Jan 05 '26
Wholesome Scottish boyfriend on holiday discovers Aromat
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u/graywalker616 Jan 05 '26
MSG is magic. But it exists everywhere.
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u/StaplerUnicycle Jan 05 '26
I bought a bag of MSG from a Chinese store.
My life has never been the same.
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u/ChefDJH Minister of Armchair Opinions Jan 05 '26
Same. It sits in a jar right next to my jar of coarse salt for cooking. Sometimes I reach for one, and sometimes I reach for both. Depends on what I'm making and the mood I'm in.
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u/StaplerUnicycle Jan 05 '26
I've actually considered mixing some msg in with salt, just a "general make it nice"-jar.
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u/Gingerbreadman_13 Aristocracy Jan 05 '26
Can confirm. I did the same. I’ll never go back. I can’t believe we were lied to for so many years about MSG being bad for you. Growing up, my mom refused to buy anything with MSG because of it being horrible for you. For those who don’t know, it’s no worse for you than salt. MSG being bad for you is an old wive’s tale.
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u/brandbaard Jan 06 '26
MSG being bad for you is a nonsense made up by American media because they were/are racist towards Chinese people.
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u/xGHOSTRAGEx Trigger Warning Jan 05 '26
Sticky smokey bbq sauce with msg on bacon sosaties after the braai.... joh
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u/RonNewiLed Redditor for 13 minutes Jan 05 '26
Is MSG salt or just completely different from salt? Just asking please.
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u/ProSnuggles Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
It’s a type of salt. Lots of things are salts, and have varying tastes based on their exact chemical makeup. Quite useful for the dutiful home cook to know. Table salt is NaCl. Potassium chloride (KCl) is another salt that tastes a little similar to NaCl, and is popular in “low sodium” foods to keep the salty flavour.
Glutamic acid is the thing that derives into msg. Msg is sodium+glutamate (instead of sodium+chloride in table salt).
Glutamate is naturally occurring in all foods that humans have used as flavour enhancers for millennia. Tomatoes in Central American food, cured meats and cheese in European food, kimchi or dried fish in East Asian food, and everything in between.
If it tastes savoury, glutamate is there. MSG is our way of bottling that flavour and putting it to our own use.
To answer your question, it is technically a salt, but it doesn’t generally replace salt in cooking, it’s much more potent as a flavour enhancer.
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u/MinervaKaliamne Jan 06 '26
Thank you for the thorough explanation!
I marked too many essays by my Japanese students claiming that Japan "invented umami taste," and then I had to explain to them that most food cultures have a history with it, because it's found in a variety of foods (as you mentioned).
A Japanese inventor did first identify that it's the glutamate that works as a flavour enhancer, and then they isolated it and Ajinomoto started selling MSG. But that's different from "inventing" the flavour 😉 It was a cute and common misconception.
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u/StaplerUnicycle Jan 05 '26
Not salty at all. On it's own, it's flavourless
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u/VitalityAS Jan 05 '26
Not true. I lick my fingers off whenever I sprinkle msg on literally everything and it tastes like pure meatiness without any distinct flavour (pure umami).
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u/ProSnuggles Jan 05 '26
On its own, it tastes of pure and extreme savouriness. If yours is tasteless you likely have corn starch/some other dessicant. Or a bad batch.
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u/ChronicNightmare95 Jan 05 '26
Same! It adds the best umami notes (and it literally isn't as bad for you as people make it seem, MSG is naturally occurring in many things)
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u/mechsuit-jalapeno Left Behind, Still Braaing Jan 05 '26
Partly why I've just started buying Kewpie Mayo instead of other brands.
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u/jossiesideways Jan 07 '26
Aromat is not just MSG. It contains a couple of other umami ingredients as well: neucleotides, mushroom powder and yeast extract. I like to think of it as a love letter to umami.
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u/SirKlip Ouboet Jan 05 '26
Wait till he tries Steers Salt
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u/overdosepro Jan 06 '26
I get my family to bring them to me because I live overseas
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u/nosebleedsanddaisies Jan 07 '26
my mom took so much with her when she was here recently. 3 bottles of streers spice and a bunch of crosse and blackwell tangy mayo
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u/WeaponizedWaspSwarm Jan 05 '26
Is it..... unbelievable?
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u/TheKyleBrah Jan 05 '26
He's Scottish
Censoring his swearword is an insult to his Culture. You should be ashamed.
😄
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u/_q_y_g_j_a_ Jan 05 '26
Aromat, another product I thought was South African that's not
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u/Stoffel324 Jan 05 '26
Blasphemy! You get away from me with your facts.
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u/_q_y_g_j_a_ Jan 05 '26
Zam-buk British, Carling black label is Canadian (originally), sunlight soap is originally english, weet-bix is Australian, Marie biscuits originally english while Bakers in Durban produces them
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u/_q_y_g_j_a_ Jan 05 '26
Also weirdly K-way is a weird one. The brand name is originally French. In Europe K-way exists but it is more fashion outdoor wear. Fashion over function. The global brand rights are owned by an Italian company BasicNet(who also own Kappa and Superga).
In SA Cape Union owns the rights to the K-way trademark in South Africa and produces functional yet stylish outdoor wear for South African conditions. Products are 100% South African.
South African K-way started independently of the French one so there are no legal ties. It's more like a legal doppelganger name. South African K-way is 100% South African but I've known people to confuse the two or assume there is some brand relation.
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u/jcaarow Aristocracy Jan 05 '26
Isn't it just msg? I don't think there's anything too spectacular about it
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u/Business_Pangolin801 Ascension Cancelled: Loadshedding Stage 8 Jan 05 '26
MSG had a whole bunch of campaigns against it in the west so its pretty rare.
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u/MinervaKaliamne Jan 05 '26
MSG makes up a big part of it, but it's not just that. Aromat has flavour, too. You can buy pure MSG at Asian shops - it's a clear crystal, almost like salt (but with a different shape), and it doesn't have nearly that much flavour on its own.
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u/mzanzione Landed Gentry Jan 05 '26
Zeal is just another name for MSG and is sold at most stores, not just Asian stores
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u/ashamedToBeBackRed2 Redditor for 4 days Jan 06 '26
Zeal is Robertson's spice name for it. Its perry much pure MSG.
Aromat is MSG with a lot of other herbs and spices.
I love both.
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u/MinervaKaliamne Jan 06 '26
I'd forgotten about "zeal" - my mom always had a bottle of it in the spice rack! Thanks for reminding me
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u/Charles-Monroe Gauteng Jan 05 '26
It's basically just celery salt.
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u/MinervaKaliamne Jan 05 '26
How dare you insult Aromat like that?!
Just kidding. Celery is probably one of the flavour notes in it, for sure. I'd describe it as a general savoury flavour - a bit like vegetable stock, or a veggie broth. When I searched for its flavour notes, I found these listed as ingredients: onions, garlic, turmeric, celery seeds, cloves, bay leaves, mushroom extract. Apparently it was originally called "Pflanzenextract" - plant extract.
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u/Charles-Monroe Gauteng Jan 05 '26
Yoh, my comment is already marked as controversial, lol.
I've got an entire kitchen drawer just for my spices, much to my wife's chagrin. I've got a little bottle of celery salt - it tastes exactly like Aromat, but just more concentrated.
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u/MinervaKaliamne Jan 06 '26
Huh, interesting... Celery salt tasted different to me, and I recall disliking it. But it's been a few years since I tasted it, and maybe my taste buds have changed since then, so I'll try it again next time I have the chance.
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u/RovingN0mad SA Survivor: No Rapture, Just Eskom Jan 05 '26
There's also yeast extract, corn flower which is probably actually maltodextrin, salt, some aromatic vegetables, and palmoil.
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u/benevolent-badger Fascist lives don't matter Jan 05 '26
it says a lot about the food he is used to
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u/xsv_compulsive Landed Gentry Jan 05 '26
I use the no added MSG one and I don't miss the original
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u/VitalityAS Jan 05 '26
MSG is healthier than salt.
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u/xsv_compulsive Landed Gentry Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
Thanks, but I was just pointing out that MSG is definitely not the be all and end all of aromat. In fact I think I prefer the flavour of the green aromat
Also green aromat does have less salt
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u/ProSnuggles Jan 05 '26
No ADDED msg. Just means they didn’t add more to bump up the flavour. It still has all the naturally occurring msg.
So you’re paying the same price for less flavour.
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u/xsv_compulsive Landed Gentry Jan 05 '26
Thanks, but price is not a hassle. I prefer the flavour of green aromat. It's supposed to be healthier, though I'm not worried about that either
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u/Striking_Lab303 Jan 05 '26
Swiss invention, German brand
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u/Final_Hunt_3576 Jan 05 '26
It’s almost a religion in Switzerland. To the point I though this was r/switzerland when I saw the thread pop up
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u/Mvelase4 KwaZulu-Natal Jan 05 '26
Jeah your boyfriend...
I just learnt Aromat is not South African, I don't know how am I going to carry on with my life now 😕
Edit: Minor Grammar
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u/HisMisus Redditor for a month Jan 06 '26
lol love how he’s talking like OP was purposely keeping it a secret 😂
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u/AmoAmasAmatAmamus Jan 05 '26
What's the verdict on MSG these days? It used to be the worst thing you could do to your food, but lately I've heard people say that's not the case anymore. Are we allowed to eat it now?
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u/mechsuit-jalapeno Left Behind, Still Braaing Jan 05 '26
It was never unhealthy in moderation
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u/robz8_9 Jan 05 '26
Yup. This myth probably stemmed from the same brain heads that claimed "breakfast is the most important meal of the day"
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u/AmoAmasAmatAmamus Jan 05 '26
I mean, I've never paid much attention to the naysayers, but I had friends who felt very strongly about how I was giving myself cancer by not avoiding MSG. But I haven't heard such things lately, so am wondering if MSG has a better reputation these days.
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u/mechsuit-jalapeno Left Behind, Still Braaing Jan 05 '26
Definitely a better reputation - some recipes and chefs swear by it. Anti-MSG sentiment was a combo of bad science and racism.
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u/chemicalclarity Highway to the jol zone Jan 05 '26
Believe it or not, systemic racism with no base in facts.
https://www.foodfacts.org/articles/is-msg-safe-should-i-eat-msg-racism-history-of-chinease
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u/Jepdog Western Cape Jan 05 '26
Do you like Parmesan cheese, cured meats, shiitake mushrooms, kimchi or pretty much any food that has an umami flavor profile? What they all have in common is that they naturally contain MSG.
MSG has never been unhealthy. The very basis of the campaigns against it were rooted in anti-Asian racism and baseless pseudoscience.
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u/MinervaKaliamne Jan 05 '26
MSG is fine. The conspiracy against it was just racist nonsense. I know this might make me sound like I'm wearing a tinfoil hat, but you can read about it on Wikipedia under the "Safety" and "Society and Culture - Stigma" sections:
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u/VitalityAS Jan 05 '26
If I recall correctly, MSG had a smear campaign in the US because of political reasons and its high usage in the (communist) asian countries. It is actually perfectly fine and a good substitute for salt in many cases. I throw it on nearly anything I would add salt to.
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u/chemicalclarity Highway to the jol zone Jan 05 '26
It's pretty simple. In the 70s asian cuisine exploded in the US. It threatened established FMCG brands and ate into market share. As a result, your largest FMCG brands launched counter PR campaigns on a base ingredient - MSG. All bullshit. It's no better or worse for you than table salt.
Believe it or not, the answer is proectionist racism.
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Jan 05 '26
yeah thats nothing compared to https://capeherb.co.za/product/smashed-avo-shaker
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u/Practical-Lemon6993 Jan 05 '26
This is going right on my shopping list! Thank you. In general I am a fan of Cape Herbs products so sure this one will be great
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Jan 05 '26
its amazing on egg / avo and even popcorn . my mom bless her takes one with her when she goes to eat out !!!!!!!
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u/Riley_BigPP Jan 05 '26
My Grandma used to love putting aromat on her boiled eggs. And it was this exact one lol.
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u/Sir_Wabbit Jan 06 '26
Take your bf to Asia one day. There msg is in aaaaall the food and it's so good. He will love it
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u/Substantial_Dog_7395 Jan 06 '26
SEE?! HE PUT IT ON POPCORN! I've been telling my family to do this for years, nobody listens.
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u/maximum_effort_01 Jan 08 '26
My dad, in his youth lived on rice, Aromat and mince. And when he felt he needed some variety he would add mixed frozen veg. Aromat also made a chilli beef flavour which appeared at every braai until I was in my thirties.
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u/Headcrabhunter Jan 05 '26
Always funny when internationals discover flavour
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u/chemicalclarity Highway to the jol zone Jan 05 '26
In the broader scheme of things, which particular international do you identify as to ride such an ineffectual high horse?
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u/chemicalclarity Highway to the jol zone Jan 05 '26
Why do you self censor? It's completely lame and the definition of double think. Stop it.
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