Marmite
| Formerly | Marmite Food Company |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private (1902–1990) Subsidiary (1990–2000) |
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | 1902[1] |
| Defunct | 2000 (as a manufacturing company) |
| Fate | Acquired by CPC International (then renamed "Best Foods") in 1990, became a brand of Unilever in 2000[2][3] |
| Headquarters | Burton upon Trent , |
| Products | Food spread |
| Owner | Unilever (2000–present)[3] |
| Parent | Best Foods Inc. (1990–2000)[3] |
| Website | marmite.co.uk |
Marmite (/ˈmɑːrmaɪt/ MAR-myte) is a British brand of savoury food spread based on yeast extract, invented by the Marmite Food Company in 1902[4][5]. It is made from by-products of beer brewing (lees) and is produced by the British company Unilever. Marmite is a vegan source of B vitamins, including supplementary vitamin B12. A traditional method of use is to spread it very thinly on buttered toast.
Marmite is a sticky, dark-brown paste with a distinctive, salty, powerful flavour and heady aroma. This distinctive taste is represented in the marketing slogan: "Love it or hate it." Such is its prominence in British popular culture that Marmite is often used as a metaphor for something that is an acquired taste or polarises opinion.[6][7] Marmite is commonly used as a flavouring, as it is known for its savoury taste due to its very high levels of glutamate (1960 mg/100 g).[8]
The image on the jar shows a marmite (French: [maʁmit]), a French term for a large, covered earthenware or metal cooking pot. Marmite was originally supplied in earthenware pots but since the 1920s has been sold in glass jars. Marmite's distinctive bulbous jars are supplied to Unilever by the German glass manufacturer Gerresheimer.[9]
Similar products include the Australian Vegemite (whose name is derived from that of Marmite), the Swiss Cenovis, the Brazilian Cenovit, the long-extinct Argentinian Condibé, the French Viandox, and the German Vitam-R. Marmite in New Zealand has been manufactured since 1919 under licence, but with a different recipe; it is the only one sold as Marmite in Australasia and the Pacific Islands, whereas elsewhere the British version predominates.
- ^ Marmite brand on Unilever
- ^ Marmite Food Extract Co history
- ^ a b c The history of Marmite on Marmite Museum
- ^ "A brief history of Marmite". Archived from the original on 24 March 2012.
- ^ "Marmite | Unilever". www.unilever.co.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
- ^ Hodsdon, Amelia (22 April 2010). "How Marmite spread its way through journalism". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
- ^ Gabbatt, Adam (13 October 2016). "Marmite: Americans wonder what's all the fuss over divisive British spread?". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ "Sodium Glutamate: A Safety Assessment" (PDF). Food Standards Australia New Zealand. June 2003. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ Fogle, Ben (2018). English. William Collins. p. 210. ISBN 9780008222284.