What even is yeast? I am thinking mainly of the kind we use to make bread rise. Which I buy from the grocery store…
But, back in the day, where did people find yeast? I assume people cultivate it and grow it, much like sour dough, but someone had to find it originally, right?
And what does ir do in the wild? Especially since it is so easy to kill? (Can’t be too hot, can’t touch salt, can’t be too old…)
Note: this is purely to do with my curiosity. I have no interest in actually hunting wild yeast
In: Biology
IIRC from my anthropology readings, the current theory for how we developed yeast cultures is that stored grain flours were inoculated by spores carried on the wind. Whether it was first used in leavening bread or in fermenting beer is still in debate.
I used to work with brewer’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerivisiae, and it’s a fun guy. I knew a guy who was getting a PhD in brewing science who replicated ancient Egyptian beer recipes. He discovered that his beer contained the antiobiotic tetracycline, and went on to hypothesize that that the presence of such antibiotics from the initial yeast colonies have made the beer safe to drink since the brewing process did not create sufficient alcohol to prevent bacterial growth.
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