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Maggi Seasoning-Yea or Nay?

Maggi Seasoning-Yea or Nay?
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  • Maggi Seasoning-Yea or Nay?

    Post #1 - February 18th, 2013, 4:16 pm
    Post #1 - February 18th, 2013, 4:16 pm Post #1 - February 18th, 2013, 4:16 pm
    I saw a recipe for something (garlic noodles) that contain Maggi seasoning. I do not usually buy things with MSG which I think it has but I am tempted to get some. I see that it is used in some asian foods and is also popular in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Anybody have an opinion on it? I guess I could try it and pitch it out if I did not like it. I am a little leery of the msg. I recall my grandmother having Accent! which were like powdery crystals but after all the bad publicity about MSG it was all thrown out and we never used it again. Pls advise.
    Toria

    "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
    W. Shakespeare
  • Post #2 - February 18th, 2013, 5:40 pm
    Post #2 - February 18th, 2013, 5:40 pm Post #2 - February 18th, 2013, 5:40 pm
    I avoid it, but you can get very small bottles to try it out at most Asian stores.
    There is one Asian buffet by me that had huge posters and articles about how MSG is perfectly fine.
    If you have a lot of it, it does affect the liver and kidneys.
  • Post #3 - February 18th, 2013, 7:31 pm
    Post #3 - February 18th, 2013, 7:31 pm Post #3 - February 18th, 2013, 7:31 pm
    Hi,

    I have an interesting article on my desk about the history of the msg-mania. When it is available as a pdf, I will post a link. This periodical withholds internet publication of their articles for two years.

    I have seen Maggi seasoning in Asian as well as European kitchens. If you grew up with it or came to like it later, then it is an essential. I never got into it, so I can take it or leave it. I might not voluntarily buy it. If someone made a dish with it, I wouldn't shy away from eating it.

    When I first started to cook, we had a container of Accent. I do have a container of msg, though I almost never use it. At a GNR restaurant, I saw a 50-lb bag of msg just outside the kitchen. Plenty of people eat Japanese food, loaded with msg via seaweed, and just about never quibble.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #4 - February 18th, 2013, 7:38 pm
    Post #4 - February 18th, 2013, 7:38 pm Post #4 - February 18th, 2013, 7:38 pm
    My dad likes it and something called Vegeta. It is too salty for me, and I too avoid MSG. You can probably get it at Bende on Roosevelt in Glen Ellyn.
    Ms. Ingie
    Life is too short, why skip dessert?
  • Post #5 - February 18th, 2013, 7:43 pm
    Post #5 - February 18th, 2013, 7:43 pm Post #5 - February 18th, 2013, 7:43 pm
    Thanks all. Good idea to look at Bendes.
    Toria

    "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
    W. Shakespeare
  • Post #6 - February 18th, 2013, 10:43 pm
    Post #6 - February 18th, 2013, 10:43 pm Post #6 - February 18th, 2013, 10:43 pm
    Ms. Ingie wrote:My dad likes it and something called Vegeta. It is too salty for me, and I too avoid MSG. You can probably get it at Bende on Roosevelt in Glen Ellyn.


    Yeah, if not there, then another Eastern European/Polish supermarket. It's pretty easy to find around here at both Polish and Asian shops. Actually, it's used in Mexican cooking, too, as well as German cooking (as already noted). So pretty much any ethnic supermarket. The labels on the Maggis are different, so I don't know if they all taste the same or if they have different flavors depending on the market. Polish Maggi, which I grew up with, tastes like a cross between lovage and soy sauce maybe. The lovage similarity has been noted by others, as one name for lovage in German is "Maggikraut," or "Maggi herb." (Of course, this description is only helpful if you know what lovage tastes like, and it's not a terribly popular herb in the US, although our family's grown lovage for decades.)

    I would use it, but I'm liberal with MSG and I use Accent in my cooking from time to time and have no issue with adding MSG or other glutamates through bouillon cubes, Vegeta, soy/fish sauce, and things of that nature. It does have a very particular flavor, so if you ditch it, your dish will taste different, but I'm sure it will be fine. If you're okay with using soy sauce, then Maggi should be fine. (Maggi used to be soy and wheat, but now it's hydrolyzed vegetable protein, apparently.)
  • Post #7 - February 19th, 2013, 11:46 am
    Post #7 - February 19th, 2013, 11:46 am Post #7 - February 19th, 2013, 11:46 am
    Jeffery Steingarten did some debunking of MSG myths as well, in a chapter in one of his books called something like "Why Doesn't Everyone in China Have a Headache?"
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #8 - February 19th, 2013, 3:19 pm
    Post #8 - February 19th, 2013, 3:19 pm Post #8 - February 19th, 2013, 3:19 pm
    Essential at the table in Polish places, but also Mexican seafood spots.
  • Post #9 - February 19th, 2013, 8:19 pm
    Post #9 - February 19th, 2013, 8:19 pm Post #9 - February 19th, 2013, 8:19 pm
    toria wrote:I saw a recipe for something (garlic noodles) that contain Maggi seasoning. I do not usually buy things with MSG which I think it has but I am tempted to get some. I see that it is used in some asian foods and is also popular in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Anybody have an opinion on it? I guess I could try it and pitch it out if I did not like it. I am a little leery of the msg. I recall my grandmother having Accent! which were like powdery crystals but after all the bad publicity about MSG it was all thrown out and we never used it again. Pls advise.


    I found your query interesting, so went poking around, since I've never used Maggi seasoning, although I've certainly seen it on the shelf at the grocery store.

    According to one of Nestle's sites, the ingredients for bottled Maggi seasoning are "water, salt, wheat gluten, wheat, and less than 2% of wheat bran, sugar, acetic acid, artificial flavor, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, dextrose, caramel color."

    So, maybe if you posted the ingredient list for the recipe you want to try, we could maybe come up with a seasoning mix that would approximate that flavor profile, but without the chemical additives.

    As far as MSG, we always had a container of Accent in our kitchen when I was a kid, like so many have already posted, and it was liberally applied to meat, especially when Dad was grilling. I can't recall missing whatever it might have added to our food when we quit buying it.

    Also, I've suffered from migraines for 30+ years, but have never associated mine with food triggers, like a lot of people do, particularly MSG. A few years ago, however, I vividly remember that a couple of hours after eating at a Chinese place right by where I worked, I became so ill with classic migraine symptoms that I had to go home. That is the only time I am aware of having any reaction to food where MSG could have been the culprit. (I'll never know for sure, of course.) You can take that limited anecdotal data point FWIW, but it seems to me that a little bit of MSG would probably be OK.

    Sharon
    "When I'm born I'm a Tar Heel bred, and when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead."
  • Post #10 - February 20th, 2013, 8:16 am
    Post #10 - February 20th, 2013, 8:16 am Post #10 - February 20th, 2013, 8:16 am
    Thanks for doing the research. Numerous websites claim maggi contains msg...maybe there are several kinds sold in different countries. When I find it I will buy some and look at the label. I am not opposed to use chemicals or flavor enhancers in some foods on an occasional basis and have no problem with using maggi. I do not intend to sprinkle it on everything. I apparently am not sensitive to it, but with all the bad publicity I have been avoiding it for years.
    Toria

    "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
    W. Shakespeare
  • Post #11 - February 20th, 2013, 9:03 am
    Post #11 - February 20th, 2013, 9:03 am Post #11 - February 20th, 2013, 9:03 am
    toria wrote:Numerous websites claim maggi contains msg.


    I'm not into the whole MSG movement, but hydrolyzed vegetable protein is essentially the same as MSG. MSG is only required to be labeled as a direct ingredient. There's all sorts of stuff that are related to and other forms of MSG that don't need to be labeled as MSG. Autolyzed yeast extract is another one.

    According to this article on Maggi, the ingredients do seem to vary depending on what version of Maggi you are using.

    A note to those with MSG sensitivities: some Maggi labels actively list monosodium glutamate, while others only list hydrolyzed wheat or soy protein, which contain natural MSG.
  • Post #12 - February 20th, 2013, 9:21 am
    Post #12 - February 20th, 2013, 9:21 am Post #12 - February 20th, 2013, 9:21 am
    JeffB wrote:Essential at the table in Polish places, but also Mexican seafood spots.


    Vietnamese spots, too. I'm pretty sure it's on the table at Tank.
    Steve Z.

    “Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
    ― Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Post #13 - February 20th, 2013, 10:58 am
    Post #13 - February 20th, 2013, 10:58 am Post #13 - February 20th, 2013, 10:58 am
    toria wrote:Numerous websites claim maggi contains msg...maybe there are several kinds sold in different countries.

    I think there are more than several. Europe alone has several versions for different countries, then there's Asia, the Americas and the rest of the world. The formulations vary greatly (I have no idea which might list MSG as an ingredient). Compare the ingredients mentioned above (water, salt, wheat gluten, wheat, and less than 2% of wheat bran, sugar, acetic acid, artificial flavor, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, dextrose, caramel color) to a Mexican Maggi which contains only hydrolyzed soy protein (a source of glutamate) and caramel color.

    Image Image

    toria wrote:I apparently am not sensitive to it [MSG], but with all the bad publicity I have been avoiding it for years.

    In another thread toria wrote:Put one cube of wylers chicken bouillon and one cube of knorr parsley flakes in the water. These things add a lot of flavor.

    What are the ingredients of those cubes? Many are loaded with monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, and sources of glutamate such as hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed corn gluten and autolyzed yeast extract. There's a reason those things add a lot of flavor.
  • Post #14 - February 20th, 2013, 11:08 am
    Post #14 - February 20th, 2013, 11:08 am Post #14 - February 20th, 2013, 11:08 am
    Yeah, those bouillon cubes are just big salt and glutamate bombs.
  • Post #15 - February 20th, 2013, 12:45 pm
    Post #15 - February 20th, 2013, 12:45 pm Post #15 - February 20th, 2013, 12:45 pm
    I don't typically use it on food, but it's essential to me for micheladas. Antonio from Xni-Pec always recommended Maggi, Clamato, Lea & Perrins, Tabasco, lots of lime, and Pacifico. Friends and I have done ample testing, and it's not the same without Maggi (we do vary the hot sauce).
  • Post #16 - February 20th, 2013, 3:43 pm
    Post #16 - February 20th, 2013, 3:43 pm Post #16 - February 20th, 2013, 3:43 pm
    My parents are from Germany and I grew ingesting maggi and for some dishes I do still use it. I can't make potato salad without it and it makes the best vinegrette dressing.

    Maggi comes in dry granule form and in bottles. Depending on where it comes from, the flavor is differant. And to confuse it further, there is beef flavored and chicken flavored.

    If you recipe calls for the beefy powdered stuff, try Minors brand or GFS version. No MSG.
  • Post #17 - February 20th, 2013, 4:08 pm
    Post #17 - February 20th, 2013, 4:08 pm Post #17 - February 20th, 2013, 4:08 pm
    Santander wrote:I don't typically use it on food, but it's essential to me for micheladas. Antonio from Xni-Pec always recommended Maggi, Clamato, Lea & Perrins, Tabasco, lots of lime, and Pacifico. Friends and I have done ample testing, and it's not the same without Maggi (we do vary the hot sauce).


    I'm going to have a talk with Antonio. He never told me about the Maggi. :twisted:
  • Post #18 - February 20th, 2013, 5:51 pm
    Post #18 - February 20th, 2013, 5:51 pm Post #18 - February 20th, 2013, 5:51 pm
    Well there you go. No wonder I like those Knorr cubes. I guess I should run out and get some Maggi soon before the snow storm!!!

    Shoot. I was at Tony's today and did not even remember to look for it.
    Toria

    "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
    W. Shakespeare
  • Post #19 - June 28th, 2022, 7:16 pm
    Post #19 - June 28th, 2022, 7:16 pm Post #19 - June 28th, 2022, 7:16 pm
    I have a cookbook that is a collection of Junior League recipes from all over the USA. I break it out and try something every blue moon or so. I recently decided to try an intriguing salad recipe that called for Maggi in the dressing, as well as Worcestershire. I bought the Maggi for the first time as I don’t have an issue with MSG. Other dressing ingredients were EVOO, dry mustard, lots of fresh lime juice, and celery salt. Recipe source originated in McAllen, Tx.

    Salad was enjoyable. Now I need to know what to do with the rest of the bottle of Maggi. Thoughts?
  • Post #20 - June 29th, 2022, 7:46 am
    Post #20 - June 29th, 2022, 7:46 am Post #20 - June 29th, 2022, 7:46 am
    I have been using it a lot lately. Have been adding it to soup, gravy, fried rice, chili, stews, stir fries. . . Earlier this week I used it for a dumpling dipping sauce that was basically only Maggi, Sriracha and a bit of Mirin.
    "I live on good soup, not on fine words." -Moliere
  • Post #21 - June 29th, 2022, 11:24 am
    Post #21 - June 29th, 2022, 11:24 am Post #21 - June 29th, 2022, 11:24 am
    Hi,

    I have Maggi, though I use it sparingly. What I want to avoid is my food being off tasting when it is not present.

    Culinary Historians had a program (with podcast) on Maggi featuring artist Miralda and Stephan Palmié, an anthropoligist from the University of Chicago.

    Regards,
    Cathy2
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #22 - July 3rd, 2022, 4:33 pm
    Post #22 - July 3rd, 2022, 4:33 pm Post #22 - July 3rd, 2022, 4:33 pm
    Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

    I have Maggi, though I use it sparingly. What I want to avoid is my food being off tasting when it is not present.

    Culinary Historians had a program (with podcast) on Maggi featuring artist Miralda and Stephan Palmié, an anthropoligist from the University of Chicago.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    Cathy,
    I’ve learned that there are two varieties of Maggi: a thin and thicker type which is more different for me to find.
    If you aren't tasting, you aren't cooking.
  • Post #23 - July 4th, 2022, 9:57 am
    Post #23 - July 4th, 2022, 9:57 am Post #23 - July 4th, 2022, 9:57 am
    Evil Ronnie wrote:Cathy,
    I’ve learned that there are two varieties of Maggi: a thin and thicker type which is more different for me to find.


    I was trying to find out more about Maggi (wondering how it differed from soy sauce -- wheat vs. soy--and ran across this bit of info:

    "Maggi is a product that is used all over the world. In Africa and in the Middle East, it is used mainly in its cube form. There are a total of nine different formulations that differ among nations and regions, depending on the local preferences and cuisine. The Swiss version is the original flavor, but some will argue that the French version is better.

    Mexican Maggi is called Jugo Maggi, and it comes in mild and spicy, and there is a version with lime. The one known in the Philippines has more garlic in it, and the Polish version is lighter in color and a bit more sour than the original.

    Beyond the bottle, though, Maggi comes in chicken and beef bouillon tablets, soup mixes, hot and/or sweet chili sauces, and granulated bouillon."

    Here's the full article: https://www.thespruceeats.com/maggi-spe ... nd-1446943
    "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." Ronald Reagan

    http://midwestmaize.wordpress.com
  • Post #24 - July 5th, 2022, 8:09 am
    Post #24 - July 5th, 2022, 8:09 am Post #24 - July 5th, 2022, 8:09 am
    Hi,

    Each of the Maggi variants have their fans. I have a Calamansi Maggi on the shelf, that has a citrus sour taste and intended for a Filippino audience.

    There is a Maggi ramen, which was highlighted recently in an Indian divorce. The wife prepared exclusively ramen soup for all his meals. It was referred to in the Indian press as the 'Maggi divorce.'

    Regards,
    Cathy2
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #25 - July 5th, 2022, 10:47 am
    Post #25 - July 5th, 2022, 10:47 am Post #25 - July 5th, 2022, 10:47 am
    One aspect of Maggi that I checked, since I have friends with serious allergies -- it is made from wheat and is not considered gluten free. So potentially a concern for some.
    "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." Ronald Reagan

    http://midwestmaize.wordpress.com

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