Baby food stock cubes

Using Stock Cubes in Baby Food – Mummy Cooks

Using Stock Cubes in Baby Food – Mummy Cooks Skip to content Back to Advice September 23, 2013 Siobhan Berry

Homemade stock is by far the best and will give your food a wonderful wholesome flavour. However it can be very difficult to find the time to make your own stock. This is where low-salt stock cubes are a great substitute! Using stock in your baby’s food will make your purées, soups, stews, curries and risottos taste much better. They are particularly important for giving a good flavour base when using little or no salt.

Salt and Stock Cubes in Baby Food

There are no stock cubes on the market that contain zero salt, so when buying for baby make sure to always look for low-salt versions. As a general rule, I suggest that everybody uses low salt stock cubes as this will help with the transition from baby food to family foods later on. Remember a baby under the age of 1 year can only have up to 1g of salt per day so it’s always a good idea to read the label before making up the stock and check the salt levels. Food labels may sometimes write ‘sodium’ instead of salt, so to find the salt equivalent simply multiply the sodium number by 2.5. When reading labels look for per 100g and stay within the following limits.

	Good	Bad
TOTAL FAT	Less than 3g per 100g	Over 20g per 100g
SATURATED FAT	Less than 1.5g per 100g	Over 5g + per 100g
SUGAR	Less than 5g per 100g	Over 10g per 100g
SALT	Less than 0.3g per 100g	Over 1. 3g per 100g

Don’t be afraid to add stock to your baby’s food – when you consider how much your little one actually eats, a pinch of salt to your baby’s diet will do no harm as long as you stick to the recommended guidelines. As your baby grows and eats more adult foods, the intake of salt may also increase. To limit this, avoid processed foods as much as possible as they are often very high in salt. Homemade food is the best as you can control how much salt you put in.

So why not add flavour to your baby’s meals and try out the recipes below that use stock cubes, perfect for storing in our portion pots.

Orzo with Peas and Parmesan

A healthy and delicious Orzo recipe that is suitable for baby and family. Perfect for lunch or dinner any day of the week!

Lentil Ragu

A nice vegetarian alternative to regular Bolognese, this Lentil Ragu recipe is full of healthy goodness your little ones will love. Serve with pasta shapes like Fusilli or Penne for a tasty baby led weaning snack. Great to batch cook and freeze with in our range of portion pots.

Vegetable and Lentil Puree

This Vegetable and Lentil Puree recipe is a great way of introducing iron into your child’s diet and it remains a firm favourite in my house. Easy to prepare, you can blend for younger babies or leave it as it is for babies who can handle texture.

Hidden Veg Risotto

Creamy and delicious, this Hidden Veg Risotto is a great way of sneaking in some extra vegetables into your little one’s diet. Simply adjust for your weaning tot by blending to the desired consistency.

Pea and Prawn Risotto

Another delicious recipe that uses stock, this Pea and Prawn Risotto is a healthy and nutritious family meal that’s perfect for your weaning baby. Ideal to batch cook and freeze in our Family Portion Set.

Chicken Casserole

A warm and filling meal, this Chicken Casserole is perfect for the whole family. It can be blended up and served in our Starter Weaning Set for your tiny tot to ensure they have the right portion size for their age.

Seafood Paella

Ready in just 20 minutes, this Seafood Paella recipe is perfect to introduce fish to your baby. Why not batch cook and store in our Family Portion Pots for a fun Spanish inspired family meal any night of the week!

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Baby Vegetable Stock (Veggie Broth for Babies Recipe)

↓ RECIPE ↓ VIDEO

Can babies have vegetable broth? Yes, you can use baby vegetable stock as part of baby led weaning. I’ll teach you how to make vegetable stock for babies and kids. Learn about the best vegetable stock, and when it is safe to introduce it into your baby’s diet. You’ll love this easy and healthy vegetable stock recipe for the whole family.

When can babies have vegetable stock? You can try this vegetable broth for baby when you start introducing solids and finger foods. This will typically be at about age 6 months.

Veggie broth is not a replacement for breast milk or infant formula. It should also not displace solid foods in your baby’s diet. This vegetable stock for baby recipe is low calorie, and overconsumption in babies, toddlers, and kids could lead to slowed growth.

As I talked about in my baby bone broth recipe for chicken stock, making homemade baby food is easy. Plus, unlike with veggie broth from the store, you can keep the ingredients simple.

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Though this recipe is a low salt vegetable stock for baby, everyone in the family can enjoy it. It’s naturally fat free, low carb, keto, Paleo, vegan, gluten free, and vegetarian. You can easily add more seasonings to flavor things up for the older members of the family.

Jump to:

❓ What is the difference between veggie stock and veggie broth?
⭐ Vegetable Stock Benefits for Babies
🥘 Best First Vegetables for Baby (Baby Vegetables List)
🍽 Equipment
🔪 How to Make Vegetable Stock for Babies
⏲️ Cooking Time and Temperature
🌡️ How to Store Vegetable Broth
🥣 Vegetable Soup for Babies
📋 Calories, Net Carbs, Protein
💭 Expert Tips from a Dietitian
FAQs
👩🏻‍🍳 Recipes Using Vegetable Stock
The Disclaimer…
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

❓

What is the difference between veggie stock and veggie broth?

Many people use the terms “stock” and “broth” interchangeably, and that is also what I am going to do here. Technically, stock is made from mostly bones, while broth is typically made from vegetables and meat simmered in water. However, vegetable stock and broth are pretty much one and the same, since no bones tend to be involved at all.

⭐ Vegetable Stock Benefits for Babies

Why make baby vegetable stock? Here are the advantages of this recipe:

Unsalted veggie broth: Most store-bought vegetable broth is loaded with salt, and not appropriate for babies. This homemade veggie stock has no salt and no additives that you may not want in there. This recipe also makes a great soup base if you’re on a low sodium diet.
Save money: Making veggie broth is a great way to use veggie trimmings or vegetables that are a bit limp. If you’re looking to stretch your grocery budget, making your own baby food may help.
Introduce baby to new flavors: The medley of veggies used in your stock can help introduce your baby to new flavors.
Hydrating: Though veggie broth does provide small amounts of vitamins and minerals, its main advantage is that it’s hydrating. You can think of veggie broth as an alternative to water in babies’ diet.
Hands off: Are you a busy parent? No worries, this recipe is almost completely hands off. Just chop the veggies, add water, and heat on the stove, crock pot, or Instant Pot. So easy!
Tasty: Leftover vegetable stock is a wonderful flavor base for a variety of dishes. Use it to cook rice and other grains, braise veggies, or anywhere else you’d like to add another layer of flavor. It will make your dishes more delicious compared to cooking in plain water.

🥘 Best First Vegetables for Baby (Baby Vegetables List)

You want to keep the list of veggies in baby vegetable stock simple. If it’s baby’s first time trying these veggies, keeping the ingredients list simple can help you pinpoint any food intolerances faster. Here is your shopping list:

2 Onions
3 Carrots
3 Celery ribs
¼ cup Parsley
8 cups Water

Leeks and bell peppers are some other great options. You don’t have to use organic vegetables in baby broth. They’re nice if you can afford them, but not a must-have for a healthy diet.

It’s fine to use veggies with some wilting or bruising in this recipe. However, make sure you don’t use moldy veggies, as they could make baby sick.

As baby is introduced to more foods, you can add additional herbs, spices, and vegetables to this recipe. If you’ll be using this recipe for the whole family, add salt to the broth AFTER baby’s portion is removed.

I don’t recommend using starchy veggies, such as sweet potatoes, to make clear vegetable broth. I also don’t recommend using strong-tasting cruciferous veggies like cabbage and broccoli.

(One time I made the mistake of making a cabbage broth and it made the house smell horrible. You have been warned. Haha)

🍽 Equipment

Here is the kitchen equipment you need to make baby veggie stock:

Knife
Vegetable Peeler
Crock pot, Instant Pot, OR Large Pot (for stovetop cooking)
Cheesecloth
Colander

I have an oval slow cooker with a 7-quart capacity and a 6-quart Crock-Pot Express programmable multi-cooker. If your crockpot has a smaller capacity, you may need to make a smaller batch of vegetable stock.

Cheesecloth is helpful to strain all the small bits out of the stock. I use Olicity Cheesecloth, which can be washed and reused without falling apart. I haven’t needed to replace my cheesecloth in years!

🔪 How to Make Vegetable Stock for Babies

Peel the onions and chop them into eighths. Peel the carrots, quarter them, and chop into thirds. Halve the celery stalks lengthwise and chop them into thirds.

Put the onions, carrots, celery, parsley, and water in a pot, crock pot, or Instant Pot. Time to cook!

⏲️ Cooking Time and Temperature

How long do you cook vegetable stock for babies? Simmer baby vegetable broth for 60-90 minutes on the stovetop over medium-low heat. Keep the pot partially covered, adjusting the temp as needed to keep it simmering.

To slow cook veggie broth, cook on high for 4 hours, or use the low setting for 8 hours. You can use a regular crock pot or the slow cooker function on an Instant Pot.

The great thing about making your own veg stock is that you can tailor it exactly as you want it.

Control the strength of flavor with the cooking time and amount of water used. If you feel the veggie broth is a bit bitter, shift the veggies you use and shorten the cooking time. For stronger broth, add less water and cook longer.

To strain the broth, put a colander over a large bowl. Line the colander with a double layer of cheesecloth. Strain the baby veg broth so it collects in the bowl. The veggies can be discarded (or eat them!) and the broth can be stored in the fridge.

🌡️ How to Store Vegetable Broth

Leftover veggie broth can be kept in glass mason jars or lidded food storage containers in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze veggie broth in ice cube trays or cocktail cube trays. Store the cubes of broth in freezer bags for longer-term freezer storage.

🥣 Vegetable Soup for Babies

To make this a baby vegetable soup recipe, all you have to do is puree it after cooking. Use a food processor to blend the broth and cooked veggies into a smooth puree. Add seasoning for older members of the family.

📋 Calories, Net Carbs, Protein

One cup of veggie stock has 25 calories, 5 grams net carbs, and 0.5 grams protein. Nutrition information is for one adult serving of unsalted vegetable stock per Cronometer. Nutrition information listed is an estimate that can vary depending on a variety of factors.

💭 Expert Tips from a Dietitian

This is a level 1 recipe (may help support fat loss). Vegetable stock should not be baby’s first food. It is very low in iron and calories, not an energy-dense food that supports healthy growth.

That said, veggie broth has merits in its hydrating abilities. Homemade veggie stock can also be a good way to introduce baby to the flavors of some new veggies. Just remember that it is never to be used as a nutritional replacement for baby formula or breastmilk.

For older members of the family, veggie broth can help boost the fluid volume of meals for very few calories. It's great in soups, stews, casseroles, and sauces. Make vegetable broth your secret ingredient when you want to add some extra flavor to dishes.

FAQs

At what age can I give my baby vegetable stock?

Babies can have a taste of homemade no salt vegetable stock when they start solid baby food. This is typically at age 6 months. Baby vegetable stock is not a replacement for breastmilk, baby formula, or solid food in the diet.

Does vegetable broth expire?

According to FoodSafety.gov, homemade broth will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge, or 2-3 months in the freezer. Store bought broth in shelf-stable packaging can be kept unopened in the pantry until the use-by date. Opened packages of broth can be kept for 3-4 days in the fridge.

Are there any healthy vegetable stock cubes for babies?

There are no baby stock cubes or baby Oxo cubes currently available. Even low sodium vegetable stock cubes are quite high in salt. For example, the first ingredient in these low sodium veggie bouillon cubes is salt. Knorr sells zero salt veggie stock cubes in the UK, but these are highly processed, and I don’t recommend them for babies.

Best vegetable stock to buy?

The best vegetable broth for babies is simple, with no added salt and no added sugar. Ideally, the ingredients are just vegetables and water. Here’s a no salt added vegetable broth that may be appropriate for older babies and toddlers.

Can you cook baby food with stock?

Yes, you can make purees and other foods for babies and toddlers with stock. Make sure the stock you use is a no salt homemade version, not a super salty stock from the store.

👩🏻‍🍳 Recipes Using Vegetable Stock

Have extra baby veg stock? Here are some ways for older members of the family to enjoy it:

Soup in Air Fryer
Wildflower Bread Chopped Salad
Baked Protein Oatmeal

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The Disclaimer…

All recipes on this website may or may not be appropriate for you, depending on your medical needs and personal preferences. Consult with a registered dietitian or your physician if you need help determining the dietary pattern that may be best for you.

The nutrition information is an estimate provided as a courtesy. It will differ depending on the specific brands and ingredients that you use. Calorie information on food labels may be wildly inaccurate, so please don't sweat the numbers too much.

For more information on how the three recipe levels may help with a weight management goal, refer to my overnight oats no sugar post. Let's get cooking!

📖 Recipe

Like this recipe?Leave a rating by clicking the ⭐ below!

Baby Vegetable Stock (Veggie Broth for Babies Recipe)

Summer Yule

Can babies have vegetable broth? Yes, you can use baby vegetable stock as part of baby led weaning. Learn to make vegetable stock for babies.

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 15 mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 6 servings

Calories 25 kcal

Peeler

Colander

Cheesecloth

2 medium onions
3 medium carrots
3 ribs celery
¼ cup fresh parsley
8 cups water

Peel the onions and chop them into eighths. Peel the carrots, quarter them, and chop into thirds. Halve the celery stalks lengthwise and chop them into thirds.
Put the onions, carrots, celery, parsley, and water in a pot, crock pot, or Instant Pot.
Stove: Simmer baby vegetable broth for 60-90 minutes on the stovetop over medium-low heat. Keep the pot partially covered, adjusting the temp as needed to keep it simmering.
Slow cooker: Cook on high for 4 hours, or use the low setting for 8 hours. You can use a regular crock pot or the slow cooker function on an Instant Pot.
Strain: Put a colander over a large bowl. Line the colander with a double layer of cheesecloth. Strain the baby veg broth so it collects in the bowl. The veggies can be discarded (or eat them!) and the broth can be stored in the fridge.

Save this Recipe

That said, veggie broth has merits in its hydrating abilities. Homemade veggie stock can also be a good way to introduce baby to the flavors of some new veggies. Just remember that it is never to be used as a nutritional replacement for baby formula or breastmilk.

Nutrition information is for one cup of vegetable broth. Nutrition information listed is an estimate that can vary depending on a variety of factors. The serving size listed is an adult serving; babies should just have a small taste.

Calories: 25kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 0.5g

Keywords baby vegetable broth, baby vegetable stock, baby vegetable stock recipe, baby veggie broth, baby veggie stock, vegetable broth for babies, vegetable broth for baby, vegetable stock, vegetable stock for babies, vegetable stock for baby

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Bouillon Cubes: Item History | 10/07/2022, InoSMI

The materials of InoSMI contain estimates exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI

The section on soups and broths opened almost all cookbooks of the 19th century. But meat was expensive at the time, and women during the Industrial Revolution had little time to spend in the kitchen. So not everyone could afford to eat a nutritious soup every day. The situation was changed only by Justus von Liebig, the inventor of beef concentrate, half a teaspoon of which was enough to make a liter of broth.

Joanna Banaś

In the 19th century, only the wealthiest people could afford a decent meat broth, but then it also found its way to other tables. This was made possible thanks to Justus von Liebig, the creator of meat concentrate, the progenitor of ready-made soups and bouillon cubes.

A good soup, after standing in a cold place, always turns into jelly. This phenomenon was used in England in the 17th century by cooks preparing takeaway soup in the form of frozen cubes. In the next century, the author of the famous English cookbook Hannah Glasse described a method for making condensed broth, suggesting drying the jelly to dissolve it later in boiling water. This method was also advised by Sir Hugh Plat in his 1602 manual for housewives. An eternal cube of dried broth, unused during one of James Cook's expeditions, can be seen at the Greenwich National Maritime Museum.

Around 1830, the French apothecaries Joseph Proust and Antoine Parmentier boiled the broth so that it turned into a thick mousse, which they poured into molds and dried to form bouillon bars. The soup that could be made from them was called plate broth or pocket broth. Sailors took such tiles on their voyages, and pharmacies sold them as a convalescent remedy.

The section on soups and broths opened almost all cookbooks of the 19th century. But meat was expensive at the time, and the women who began working during the Industrial Revolution had little time for the kitchen. So not everyone could afford to eat a nutritious soup every day. The situation was changed only by Justus von Liebig, the inventor of beef concentrate, half a teaspoon of which was enough to prepare a liter of broth.

The chemist brews the broth

Liebig did not show any traits of genius. He was so bad at Greek and Latin that he was expelled from the Darmstadt Gymnasium and had to get a job at a pharmacy in Heppenheim (he almost blew it up during a failed experiment). Two years later, Liebig nevertheless began to receive a chemical education and after three semesters he began writing his doctoral work, and in 1826, after an internship at the Sorbonne, at the age of 23 he became a professor of chemistry at the University of Giessen. He was engaged in chemical analysis, the physiology of plants and animals (especially the topic of their nutrition), conducted experiments with grain, bread, fats, and from 1843 began to study different types of meat. He filled them with hot and cold water, in which he later found many substances from the raw materials. In the course of these studies, the scientist came up with the idea to create a concentrate that would contain all the useful things that are in meat. In 1847 he developed a production method. Liebig cut the lean beef into small pieces, poured it with water, added salt and cooked for so long until 80% of the volume began to be occupied by boiled meat. He called the resulting dark brown paste "Extractum carnis Liebig", however, he did not patent the technology, but on the contrary - he described it in detail in professional printed publications. The concentrate went on sale a few years later in Munich, where Liebig moved in 1852 at the invitation of King Maximilian II of Bavaria. The monarch offered him the building of the Faculty of Chemistry at the local university with a laboratory built according to the instructions of the scientist. In Munich, Liebig quickly won the favor of the royal physician, Professor von Breslau, who prescribed the concentrate to his patients. He was also present in the court pharmacy, where 2.5 tons of meat were processed per year.

Concentrate from almost wild cows

In 1862, a young German engineer George Christian Giebert, who worked in Brazil, learned about Liebig's invention: he tried the concentrate and found it very tasty. Cattle were actively bred in South America, but the export of beef was not going well, because in those days there were no freezers on ships yet, and canned food was not common. South American exporters used the hide, upper fat, horns, and the finest cuts of meat. The rest of the carcasses were gone. Gilbert convinced Liebig that it was three times cheaper to produce concentrate from South American meat than from European meat. It was important for the chemist that his product was cheap, and thanks to this it was accessible to a wide range, so he agreed that Gilbert used the technology and began production in Uruguay. It was launched on August 25, 1862 in the city of Fray Bentos. Initially, Gilbert's factory processed nine carcasses a day. When Liebig received the first samples, he was so pleased that he allowed his name to be used in the sale. “I can say with satisfaction that the quality of the samples turned out to be much higher than I expected, since they are made from the meat of practically wild animals,” the chemist wrote.

Real Liebig

In 1863 Gilbert founded the Société de Fray Bentos Giebert & Cie. From this moment, you can count the beginning of the industrial production of meat concentrate for soups. By the end of next year, the company sent 22 tons of concentrate packed in glass containers to Europe. A kilogram of concentrate corresponded to 30 kilograms of beef. Two years later, LEMCO (Liebig's Extract of Meat Company) was established in London, whose director, Justus von Liebig, in particular, controlled the production process and the quality of the product supplied to Europe. He advertised it as a "true Liebig concentrate" as competitors had already begun to print his name on their packages. The British court allowed them to do this, which decided that since Liebig's name was used to describe the invention even before the factory appeared, it means that it became a household name.

Liebig came up with many useful things, but he was able to earn only on concentrate: in terms of modern money, two to three million euros. In the 1980s, after the death of the chemist, LEMCO launched the production of bouillon cubes, which, in addition to the concentrate, included beef tallow and spices of vegetable origin.

Chemistry and Advertising Genius

The paste concentrate didn't look very appetizing and would not interest customers without advertising, but Liebig was still a marketing genius. He established cooperation with famous chefs from Germany, Great Britain and the USA, who placed recipes using his invention in their cookbooks. In 1875, the publication Liebig's Concentrate in Petty-bourgeois Cuisine appeared, which included 147 recipes for soups, fish, meat, dietary dishes, and even salad. An ingenious step was the idea to put pictures for collectors in each package, which can now be bought at online auctions.

Liebig's firm supplied the concentrate, in particular, to the Vienna imperial court, but the inventor dreamed that his product would reach the tables of the poorest people. However, it turned out to be too expensive and became widespread, rather, among the middle class. During World War I, it found its way into army packs on both sides of the front as part of the rations (100 million Liebig bouillon cubes were made for the British Army).

Bouillon-like product

Although Liebig should be considered the inventor of the meat concentrate and the resulting bouillon cube, the products of the Swiss Julius Maggi have become synonymous in Europe. This is rather unfair, because Maggi cubes cannot be called concentrated broth. It's more like a broth-flavoured concentrate. In 1886, Maggi created the vegetable-based liquid seasoning that is most associated with his name, and nine years later founded the Société du Bouillon Kub company in France, which launched the broth in the form of paper-wrapped cubes with a side one and a half centimeters long. There was no meat concentrate, they consisted of salt, vegetable protein, fat, dried vegetables and seasonings. A cube cost as much as 33 grams of soup meat. In Germany - about 4 pfennig, that is, much less than the price of a product from a real Liebig concentrate. And this became the key to the success of the Swiss: at 19In 12, in France alone, the Maggi company sold six million cubes a month.

At first they were made and packed by hand, and two years later the process was mechanized, which made it possible to cover the demand. Maggi also invested in attractive packaging: beautiful yellow and red cans that could then be used to store other products. He did not spare money on advertising: he ordered a poster from Alfons Mucha, put up billboards in busy parts of cities, and in order to increase the prestige of his product, he brought to cooperation, in particular, the famous chef Auguste Escoffier.

Ever-living cube

In Poland, bouillon cubes began to be produced in 1941 in Wienary, which was then a suburb of the city of Kalisz. The company was founded by Alfred Nowacki, a German of Polish origin, who produced, in addition to cubes, dried vegetables and seasonings for soups. Now cooks are shaking with disgust at the sight of the chemical composition of modern bouillon concentrates, but there are a great many of them on the market in the form of cubes, powder, thick jelly, which means that the demand for them remains. In stores, you can still find real Liebig concentrate in a glass jar. At 1895, 100 grams cost a little less than one Reichsmark, now you will have to pay 32 euros for the same amount. So a product that was created as cheap and accessible to everyone became a luxury item.

Bouillon cubes are dangerous

Only dry bouillon cubes - and these are champions in flavor enhancers - Ukrainians eat about 8 thousand tons a year, Russians - more than 25 thousand tons.
In terms of per capita, this is 15 pieces. But this is an average. Me and my family eat two or three times as much. Because the most delicious soup, if you add a bouillon cube to it, magically becomes even tastier.
However, chance tempered our craving for gastronomic pleasures. My brother somehow leaned on dry broths with the terrible strength of a bachelor's appetite. And exactly a month later he became covered with a red rash. The doctor, having found out about his culinary addiction, strictly ordered to exclude bouillon cubes from the diet, as well as any products containing a flavor enhancer - monosodium glutamate. A week later, the rash was gone.
Well, how is my body poisoned by the immoderate consumption of monosodium glutamate? I'll try to figure it out.

Immoderate appetite

So how much glutamate is ingested in a bouillon cube? Not a single manufacturer reports what is the mass fraction of the flavor enhancer in the composition of the dry broth! But the amount of the food additive should be indicated on the product label.
The Russian state standard "Food products. Information for the consumer. General requirements" says that when labeling a product, the manufacturer is obliged to indicate only the name of the food additive. And about its quantity - silence. What kind of smart people approved this standard?
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization believes that uncontrolled consumption of monosodium glutamate is not harmless to health, and recommends limiting the daily dose of its consumption to two grams for an adult.
“So how can I, the consumer, control the amount of glutamate I eat? - I torment the official of Rospotrebnadzor. - Well, how do I overeat a non-harmful food additive?
In response, they shrug their shoulders.
I'm off to the food testing lab. They will surely determine how much glutamate is in a bouillon cube!
- No, we do not do such an examination, - they answered me at the St. Petersburg Center for Quality Control of Goods and Services. - To determine the content of monosodium glutamate, a technique is needed, but we do not have it.
And where it is? And nowhere. Although, if the Motherland says "it is necessary", all the laboratories of the country will instantly receive the developed methods from the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology. When will it happen? A very long time, given the high profitability of dry broths and the relatively low toxicity of food additives.
It seems that the only place where they will surely answer how much glutamate and other "chemistry" is contained in the recipe for a bouillon cube is the manufacturer. However, to my question sent to the Knorr company, the answer was never sent to me ...

Our cubes are thicker than American ones

And how, I wonder, in other countries? Does a consumer in the US, for example, know how much monosodium glutamate he eats with a bouillon cube?
It turned out that overseas trade labeling is very crafty: only the names of the ingredients are indicated, without their mass fraction. Nevertheless, the United States does not make state secrets from this information. I went to the American website nutritiondata.com, and at my request, a “dossier” for a bouillon cube instantly appeared.
It turned out that an American cube contains 1.5 g of glutamate, which is 65% of the allowable daily intake for a person weighing 60 kg. Here is so immediately - and information, and warning. "American" is a quarter lighter than ours, but it has twice as much meat and one and a half times less fat. And instead of table salt, soda is often invested in an American cube - more than half of the total weight.
And here's what's even more important. Of the flavor enhancers in the American cube, only monosodium glutamate is present. Whereas "our" cube also contains sodium inosinate and sodium guanylate. For information: if glutamate is not recommended for the production of baby food, then inosinate and guanylate are completely prohibited.
So how much chemistry for taste is contained in a Russian cube? By analogy with the American - a dry broth, it is dry broth in Africa - about a quarter of the total weight. And this is almost a daily allowable dose of consumption. That is, the limit beyond which, with regular intake, according to WHO experts, health problems begin.

For personal food safety

As my friend says, cut cubes and spices out of your diet - no problem! It's easy to throw it away, of course. It's harder to stop feeling cheated.
Why is the consumer deprived of the right to know what he pays money for?
However, if I go to court, I'll lose the case. Because the Law of the Russian Federation "On Protection of Consumer Rights" states that the consumer has the right to demand only the NAME of the food additive, but not its dosage.
Having learned all this, for the first time I wanted Russia to join the WTO. Then I, like any "veterinary" European, will have the possibility of personal protection in the food sector. We now have WHO recommendations, according to which the permissible daily intake of monosodium glutamate - a little more than two grams per person - is an empty phrase. According to domestic sanitary standards, the content of monosodium glutamate should not exceed five grams per kilogram of the finished product.
This applies to mayonnaise, chips, ketchup, crab sticks. Moreover, dry broths and seasonings do not belong to finished products, these are concentrates. So glutamate is not sparingly invested in their recipe.
Of course, the manufacturer has an excuse - instructions. She recommends dissolving one cube in five hundred grams of water. But what about the fact that the consumer will never know how many daily doses he took with these five hundred grams?! n

What is excessive is dangerous

Japanese scientists have found that monosodium glutamate in large doses causes blindness and hearing loss in rodents. However, people are not rats, and it is incorrect to apply the conclusions obtained in experiments on animals to humans ... On the other hand, how to explain that in Japan, where monosodium glutamate is traditionally consumed in large doses, the incidence of a special form of glaucoma is 1.5 times higher than in Russia?
Defenders of flavor enhancers point out that monosodium glutamate and monosodium inosinate are found in meat and fish, and sodium guanylate is found in mushrooms. But how much their concentration in industrial food is higher than in natural food is silent. And does the body need sodium salts in addition to what is found in meat and seafood?
If scientists conduct large-scale research, then little is said about them. Probably because of the obviousness of the conclusion: everything excessive is harmful. And table salt will become a deadly poison if you eat four hundred grams in one sitting. So it is with flavor enhancers - the less, the better. Keep your dose to a minimum.
WHO considers that the use of any nutritional supplement without establishing acceptable daily intakes is unacceptable. In relation to monosodium glutamate, this dose is 40 mg per kilogram of human weight. But in Russia, these rules do not apply.

Special opinion

"Taste enhancers create an aftertaste that lasts for several hours," says Pavel Gorbenko, rector of the National Institute of Health, MD.
Who eats the most flavor enhancers?
Regulars of fast food restaurants. Lovers of salads "in Korean" and other dishes of Korean, Chinese, Japanese cuisine. Fans of pizza, ketchup, soy sauce, dry broths and seasonings based on them. Eaters of chips and salty crackers.

Not an enhancer but an imitator

50 times more flavor enhancers are being invested in food than 40 years ago.
Of the 500 popular food additives in the world, flavor enhancers are perhaps the most "eaten". The most common of these is monosodium glutamate. It comes from Japanese and Chinese cuisine. For the first time it was isolated from algae, then they learned how to get it chemically.
But the industry of dry broths and seasonings rushed forward sharply with the discovery of American chemists. At 1962 they patented a mixture of three sodium salts - glutamate, inosinate and guanylate. It was a beef-flavored substance. Later, by changing the proportions of the above salts, sauces and gravies with the taste of chicken or mushrooms appeared.
So it's more correct to say "imitator" and not "amplifier" of taste. Most of the dry broths and seasonings sold in Russia contain three flavor enhancers - monosodium glutamate (E621), sodium guanylate (E627) and sodium inosinate (E631). For more information on the effects of chemical additives in food, see the documentary "Caution, food!".

Monosodium glutamate

Bouillon cube contains no meat, but contains extractives, fat, unlimited salt, acidity regulators, flavorings and, of course, monosodium glutamate.
“I, as a doctor, do not recommend, especially for children, especially those with impaired vision, to eat this taste enhancer, which is called monosodium glutamate,” warns Olga, a nutritionist, head physician of the Institute for Health Restoration.
Monosodium glutamate is a food additive to enhance the taste. It is a white powder. well soluble in water. Accumulating in the body can cause severe asthma attacks. It has been proven that this supplement causes Alzheimer's disease and quite serious changes in the psyche of a depressive direction. In an adult, this is chronic fatigue syndrome, and in a child, this is hyperactivity.

Broth cannot be dry

In 1856, the German chemist Justus Liebig invented Liebig's meat extract, now known as bouillon cubes.
In 1883, "cook No. 1" Julius Maggi, in turn (by evaporating water from the meat extract), also invented ... bouillon cubes.
We will not comment on this interesting fact in any way: it is well known that, for example, the bicycle was invented more than ten times in a row.
But we note that in 1862 the first factories for the production of bouillon cubes (with the participation of Liebig himself) were created in South America, because it was almost hopeless to find a market for them in Europe - it was impossible to convince Europeans in the 19th century of the edibility of this ersatz product . In fairness, it should be noted that it was Maggi who built in 1901 the first plant in Europe (in France) for the production of bouillon cubes. And in 1947, Julius Maggi's company became part of the Nestle Corporation. Thus, founded ten years after the discovery of Liebig (in 1866), the Swiss company Nestle has a very modest attitude to the invention and production of bouillon cubes.