While the panic-buying of the early days of lockdown is thankfully a thing of the past, not all the supermarket shelves are brimming. If you've been seeking a large jar of Marmite recently, you may have found yourself at a loss. Look high and look low, but there's not a 400g jar of the hate-it-or-love-it condiment to be found. 

And when The Telegraph's film critic Tim Robey, a yeast-extract enthusiast, asked the brand directly on Twitter where he could get a large jar, the response was monumental: Marmite replied to say that it had temporarily stopped producing all but the 250g jars of the condiment. The reason? Lockdown. 

Since the key ingredient of Marmite is brewer's yeast, used to ferment beer, the forced closure of pubs across the country has meant that as many as two-thirds of breweries have temporarily shut up shop, and brewer's yeast has suddenly become a lot harder to find.

Hi Tim, due to brewers yeast being in short supply (one of the main ingredients in Marmite) Supplies of Marmite have been affected.

As a temporary measure we have stopped production of all sizes apart from our 250g size jar which is available in most major retailers.

— Marmite (@marmite) June 10, 2020

Thankfully for fans of the controversial spread, a spokesperson for Unilever, Marmite's parent company, has told The Telegraph that with breweries firing up their production lines again, the shortage of large-format jars is coming to an end: “We’ve seen a high demand for Marmite over the last few months with more people making meals at home during lockdown, which, coupled with the fact that breweries have been supplying less yeast, resulted in a temporary reduction in the full range of Marmite pack sizes being available. 

“Our best-selling pack size has continued to be available, and with these issues now resolved, we are continuing to make Marmite as normal again, which means that the full range of jars should be back on supermarket shelves very shortly.”

Still, if you simply can't wait, you can make your own version at home. Perhaps the most well-known recipe comes from food blogger Kerstin Rodgers, aka MsMarmiteLover, who, in 2011 visited a Marmite factory and was able to glean some details from a Quality and Innovation Expert from the brand. While it's not an official recipe, and by Rodgers' own admission tastes a little more bitter than the original, it's a good approximation – if, that is, you can track down some brewer's yeast... 

MsMarmiteLover's homemade Marmite

INGREDIENTS

• A litre of brewer's yeast (top fermentation from a brewery)
• A pinch of sea salt
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 turnip, diced
• ½ celery stick, diced

METHOD

1. Put a litre of brewer’s yeast with a little salt, in a bain-marie. Simmer at 30-40C for 10 hours or overnight.
2. Simmer this mixture at 50-60C for two to three hours.
3. Boil at low temperature 90C  for half an hour.
4. Filter though coffee papers or a sieve and cheesecloth.
5. Let it cool for around a day so it separates further.
6. Filter again.
7. Convert it to a paste by putting it in a large flat pan and simmering. 
8. Meanwhile boil up all the vegetables until they are cooked. Strain off the liquid and incorporate into the Marmite paste. 
9. Let the mixture reduce into a Marmite-like texture.

Meanwhile Michelin-starred chef Alex Bond, owner of Alchemilla in Nottingham has figured out his own way to create the spread that comes close to the original using leftover sourdough. "We made it to reduce our waste," he explains of the original experiment during normal restaurant operation days. "We baked bread twice a day and always baked a spare loaf because customers are offered extra bread. Quite often we ended up with sourdough left over, and since a lot of time and love goes into our bread we wanted to make something with it."

Initially the team at Alchemilla made kvass, a fermented bread spirit which they used in a cocktail. "We started playing with that and realised a reduction of the kvass made the Marmite. The three main characteristics we wanted to emulate were the staples of Marmite: salty, yeasty, umami, and that consistency. Ours is slightly looser but it has a very familiar Marmite tackiness." Bond even goes as far as to say he thinks "it's better than the original." 

Alex Bond's sourdough Marmite

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg sourdough bread, toasted and cut into large dice
• 4 litres water
• 7g fresh yeast
• 10g sugar

METHOD

1. Soak the bread in the water with the yeast and sugar for 12 hours.
2. After 12 hours, remove the bread, squeezing it as you do so, then discard it so you're left with just the liquid. Loosely cover and leave the liquid to ferment at room temperature for the next two days. 
3. Reduce the liquid on the hob to a thick Marmite consistency. Four litres of water should eventually make about 200ml of Marmite, so it may take several hours to reduce to the right consistency.

Are you a lover or a hater? Let us know in the comments section below.