Customer Reviews

Vegetable Base

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have used this product now for a number of years. If you do alot of cooking and always need vegetable or chicken stock, this is all natural, no MSG(like alot of broths on the shelves), and is fantastic!!!!! You only need 1 tsp. for 8oz. water,so its a great deal! Think about switching, you'll be glad you did,I promise!

I love all their bases: chicken, veg, mushroom and beef. Use sparingly, they are salty but so concentrated you don't need much. Keeps great in the frig.

I haven't been a vegetarian for over a decade, but I still make a lot of vegetarian meals. Better Than Bouillon (BTB) is one of my go-to ingredients for adding flavor to vegetable soup and stock, and also less expected dishes like pasta, or braised veggies and even stir-fry sauces. Though shelf-stable when you buy it, the BTB needs to be refrigerated once open. I keep mine in the door of the fridge for easy access, and can fit three or four varieties of BTB in the shelf where eggs are meant to be stored. Though it takes up space in the fridge, it gives me lots more room in my pantry and freezer, since I'm no longer storing boxes, cans or jars of broth.

I also like the flexibility to use the amount I need for a specific recipe. I wouldn't always open a huge box of broth if I only wanted a splash of it to loosen a stew, for example, but I can easily use a 1/2 tsp of BTB in water and dilute my gravies without diluting their flavor as well. You'd be surprised how many places you can ramp up flavor with this product. I often use it in place of salt as well, particularly in saucy dishes where it blends easily. The sodium content is comparable to other bouillon I've seen, but the flavor seems richer, so less is required overall.

I'm not a nutritionist but I feel like I should comment on the reviews which blast BTB for adding MSG; as far as I can tell from my research, they don't add MSG. Now, not *adding* MSG is not the same as not *having* any MSG, which is I think what confuses and frustrates some people. MSG is a naturally occurring compound in some foods, but can also be isolated and added into foods where it doesn't naturally occur. BTB *does* contain ingredients that have natural MSG in them, therefore it has some natural MSG as well, but is stating the truth when they say they don't use MSG as an additive.

For what it's worth, completely avoiding MSG in a typical American diet can be quite a challenge. I've gotten really horrid migraines for a long time and spent years cutting out all kinds of different foods, including MSG, to try to decrease the frequency of my headaches. For me, MSG can make pain worse, but doesn't cause it to occur altogether. My husband, being a thoughtful man, has made soups for me using BTB when I've been knocked out due to a migraine, and with the quantities we use in our cooking, I haven't had any problems. Of course, your experience may differ.

Overall, I highly recommend Better Than Bouillon's Vegetable Base. It's an excellent way to add flavor to dishes, easy to use and undeniably better for you than most traditional bouillon cubes.

For my fellow southerners who like to make a homemade pot of Red Beans & Rice, flavor your water with this vegetable base. It's delicious! Everyone always comments on how good my Red Beans are. I buy the Camelia brand red beans, follow the directions on the label, but also add this flavoring to the water. You'll love it!

For those of you who are acting so hyper about MSG, consider this. All cheese, meat products, soy sauce (including the naturally brewed shoyu without added MSG), oysters, clams, mollusks in general, and tomatoes are LOADED with MSG. This is a naturally occurring substance in many fermented or aged products. If you can eat cheese, enjoy your tomatoes, and tolerate naturally fermented soy sauce, think again about MSG reactions. This info is coming from a biochemist and a physician who does a lot of nutritional therapy. There are a lot of myths that are still being perpetuated, and this is no exception. Even the tongue contains taste buds that are specific for detecting MSG. So it's in your genes!

As for this soup base, it's fabulous!!

If you still have issues about the thought of consuming ANY MSG, then be prepared to stop eating all deli products, any mollusk, anything with soy sauce or other fermented bean product (including black beans, other soy bean products like miso, etc.), any aged milk curd, and anything containing a tomato, including pizza. If you truly believe in the MSG ban, then put your money where your mouth is!

Although I usually use bouillon, I was fortunate in getting an opportunity to use the "Better Than Bouillon" which the family had begun using in recipes...Its only negatives are that it is in a glass container which must be recycled and it must be refrigerated once opened..its price is similar to that of Bouillon. 4/12/06 abj

First, the actual product: Love this stuff. Tastier than bouillon cubes, easier to deal with, and the price is comparable given the large number of servings. We live in a vegan household and wouldn't ever be caught without it. Having said that, it's usually about half this price at the grocery store, not quite sure why Amazon's costs so much.

Second, to the MSG haters: there is going to be no such thing as an MSG-free broth unless you make it yourself. Make sure you leave out all naturally-occuring sources of it as well. Furthermore, a cursory search for medical journal articles doesn't turn up any reputable sources concluding that MSG consumed in the quantities found in this kind of product possess any adverse health effects. If you'd like to share some citations, I'll be listening. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to use this product in every soup/gravy/ice cream topping I eat.

Buyer beware. Although there's no MSG, this contains hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Because of high levels of glutamate, people sensitive to MSG should avoid hydrolyzed vegetable protein (ref. Health Canada, 2009).

I love making quick veggie soups on the fly. At less than $6.00 a bottle this is a great bargain. Makes 38 quarts. Considering that 1 qt of veggie broth costs $3.00 in the market. I use this for chicken soups as well. I like to creat quick soups by throwing whatever veggies (sometimes meat) I have in the fridge. My favorite is throwing in mushrooms, napa, and baby bok choy and perhaps some rice noodles. What is great about this product is you can use just a little to create one or two servings or you can use more to create a large pot of soup. It will stay fresh about a year in the fridge once opened. I use it often so this smaller bottle lasts me about 3 months. Costco sells the larger bottles of beef and chicken but not the veggie. If you are looking for an all-natural, all-organic broth then just make your own. This base is perfect when you want soup fast.

Unable to get to a health products store, I got Better than Bullion vegetable base and the beef base. Both are way too salty if you are watching your daily recommended sodium intake it is listed at 21 percent for the beef variety (reduced sodium) and 30 percent for the vegetable base. It makes me wonder if there other products are this way too.

It is something to consider and I've found powdered vegetable broths to be much more friendly in terms of low sodium.