FAQs

Oomite is made with a short list of real ingredients: Organic fermented soybean paste (organic soybeans, water, salt, koji); Spent brewer’s yeast; Malt extract; Filtered water; Olsson’s sea salt.

That’s it. No artificial flavours, colours, numbers, thickeners, emulsifiers or fillers - just slow fermented miso, brewer’s yeast and a few simple ingredients that give Oomite its signature umami flavour.

Mitey! It’s salty, savoury, bitter, yeasty and tails off with a balanced umami kick that leaves you wanting more.

Oomite was originally made for food service only (cafés, bakeries and chefs), and we still mostly supply hospo with our Chef’s Pails which you can order directly from our Wholesale Page.

But due to demand we’ve released our 900g Chef's Pails for home kitchens. You can buy Oomite online via Part&Parcel, and locally through Three Blue Ducks Produce Store in Byron Bay and Bottle & Hoop in Brunswick Heads. It’s also available online via our friends at Church Farm General Store.

And of course, we always love when people ask their favourite café or bakery to stock it.

We’d love to make a smaller jar, and we’re working on it!

Oomite is a surprisingly difficult product to make because it’s very thick and made with 100% real ingredients - no thickeners, preservatives or additives. That makes it harder to fill into smaller jars at scale while keeping the texture and shelf stability just right.

For now, we produce Oomite in our Chef’s Pails, which is how it’s traditionally supplied to cafés, bakeries and chefs. But we know people would love a jar for home, so it’s something we’re continuing to explore.

Yes, as Oomite contains spent brewer’s yeast (which is a by-product of the beer making process) and malted barley, it does contain gluten. It also contains soy from an organic fermented soybean paste.

Oomite is shelf stable when unopened and has a 12-month shelf life from the date it’s made.

Once opened, it should be stored in the fridge, as it contains no preservatives or artificial ingredients. If kept refrigerated in a properly sealed container, it will last until the best before date on the tub.

For reference, our 900g Chef’s Pail contains roughly 180 servings (about 5g per serve) - which works out to around 6 months of daily Oomite on toast.

Oomite is a small-batch product made without preservatives, which means its shelf life is shorter than some other spreads.

The good news is it freezes really well. We usually squeeze some into a jar for the fridge and portion the rest into a few smaller containers for the freezer.

As long as it has more than a month of shelf life left when frozen, it can stay in the freezer for up to 12 months. Once thawed, it simply returns to the same shelf life it had when frozen (for example, if it had 3 months left when frozen, it will have 3 months once thawed).

Yes! 100% of Oomite’s ingredients are made from plants, not in a plant.

We love real food and are especially drawn to the nostalgic products and flavours that we grew up with. With Oomite, our mission was to create a delicious and wholesome savoury yeast spread with all-natural ingredients and amazing flavour. We tested it on many chefs and knew we got it right when Mags’s son asked for more of “mummy’s bitter jam.”

Oomite is a premium mite, made with high-quality ingredients like our very slow-fermented, organic miso! And absolutely nothing artificial (no colours, numbers, thickeners etc).

We’ve done extensive research in the mite category and found that there are two categories of mites. The mainstream lower price brands, and a few higher quality, black tahini-based mites sold in independents and health food stores. Oomite’s ingredients and flavour are unique in this second category, but we have worked to price it so that it’s competitive within this category of mites, while making it viable for food service.

This is the most exciting part! We’re seeing chefs using Oomite both as a Spread and an Ingredient. 

At Vagabond, you can get Oomite on a sourdough crumpet with vegan butter while at Three Blue Ducks in Byron it’s served with The Bread Social sourdough and cultured butter. Speaking of, the masters at The Bread Social are working on a bespoke Oomite Croissant and have also used it in an umami bomb of a savoury danish. 

Meanwhile, David Lovett at Ethel Food Store has used Oomite in his famous cheesy focaccia, Cheese and Oomite scrolls and even Four Chocolate and Oomite cookies.

As an Ingredient, Oomite has been used as a brisket marinade at Barrio in Byron Bay, in Kim Chi at Three Blue Ducks and Oomite and ricotta gnocchi at The Diner in Lennox Head. 

You can see some of these mouth-watering creations at @oomitespread.

We supply Oomite in three sizes:
900g Chef's Pail with piping bag - perfect for cafés and home kitchens
2.5kg Chef’s Pail - our bigger hospo size
15kg bulk tub - for bakeries and larger kitchens (email us to order these)