Operation Homemade Marmite – Because Why Not?
Right, so here’s the thing. I don’t actually like Marmite.
I know, I know… it’s practically a British institution. People either swear by it or threaten to leave the house if it’s on toast within smelling distance. I fall into the latter camp. But Mrs Barry? She loves the stuff. So naturally, I decided to go full mad scientist and make homemade Marmite from scratch. Because clearly I enjoy chaos in the kitchen.
This whole journey started when I stumbled across a recipe on the Great British Chefs website. It’s by Alex Bond and his team, and it’s about as close to wizardry as food gets. The idea is simple: extract yeasty goodness from stale sourdough and fresh yeast, then boil it down into that sticky black gold people either love or loathe.
The results? Let’s just say it was very Marmite. Literally.
From Bread to Spread
To really go all in, I didn’t just follow the recipe—I ran an experiment. I used two types of sourdough: one made fresh by yours truly (with help from Keith, my sourdough starter), and one store-bought from the supermarket. I followed the Marmite recipe exactly, including soaking the bread in a giant picnic tub like some kind of yeasty swimming pool, and left it to ferment in the kitchen for a couple of days.
The kitchen did start to smell like a brewery crossed with a loaf of bread, but weirdly, that just made me more excited.
After filtering and reducing the mixture for several hours—yes, hours—I was left with a small jar of homemade Marmite. About 150g, to be exact, from 4 litres of liquid. It’s like culinary alchemy. What was once bread soup becomes this thick, glossy spread with an insanely strong umami punch.
Keith vs. Supermarket Sourdough
This was the fun part. I ran a direct comparison between my homemade sourdough and the shop-bought stuff. Keith (the starter) had produced a decent loaf with a mild smell and flavour, while the store-bought sourdough had a more intense aroma right from the get-go.
Once reduced, the difference was clear: the homemade sourdough batch was lighter in colour and milder in flavour. The shop-bought one was darker, richer, and had that trademark Marmite kick. Even Mrs B, our resident Marmite expert, could tell them apart instantly—and declared the shop-bought version the winner.
Poor Keith.
Is It Worth Making Homemade Marmite?
Short answer: maybe.
Long answer: it depends how much you enjoy food experiments. If you’re a Marmite fan, it’s genuinely fascinating to see how it all comes together. It’s messy, slow, and smells a bit odd, but it absolutely works. You also gain a serious appreciation for how much effort must go into producing this stuff on a commercial scale.
Would I make it again? Not unless I had an industrial amount of sourdough going spare. But as a one-off kitchen adventure, it was brilliant.
If you’ve got some spare bread, a curious mind, and an afternoon to kill reducing liquid into spreadable goo, then go for it. Otherwise, maybe just watch the video and shake your head at my life choices.
Watch It All Unfold
I’ve embedded the full video above so you can see the chaos unfold in real time. Spoiler: there’s bubbling, fermenting, and lots of questionable kitchen smells.
You can also check out the original recipe I followed from Great British Chefs here, and the video on YouTube here if you’re watching externally.