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
Yeasts are single-celled fungi. They are found absolutely everywhere in the environment. They particularly grow on plants. Some yeasts live on your body, and some inside your gut.
If you take a mix of flour and water and just let it sit, wild yeasts will start growing in it (this is how sourdough starters are made). They were on the wheat grains when they were milled into flour, and floating around in the air wherever you happen to live.
>And what does ir do in the wild?
It lives its life. It metabolizes food into energy, excretes waste products (like ethanol and carbon dioxide, which we humans find useful), and reproduces into more yeasts, usually by budding.
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