North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alexander Brands <abb7@Lehigh.EDU>]

> Message: 9
> Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:59:22 -0600
> From: Jay Cutts <orders@cuttsreviews.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Off Topic - Homemade carbonated drinks
> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <4E6794DA.1060604@cuttsreviews.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Actually I'm wondering if it might be that raisins or ginger already
> have yeasts on their surface that might speed things up.  After all, the
> yeast is really attracted to sugar, so sugar alone should do the trick
> but if there are yeasts present on the raisins or ginger or other fruit,
> that's what would speed it up.  Could it be something like that?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jay


Yes, that's a much more plausible explanation.  There's a common myth  
that yeast spores are just flying around in the air of your kitchen.   
It's really common in articles about starting a sourdough culture.   
For sourdough, the reality is that yeast are present in the flour  
already, they're not coming from the air.  Furthermore, yeast have no  
way to move in a directed fashion,  they can't move at all on their  
own, so to say they are "attracted" to something doesn't really mean  
anything.  So it's not that yeast are attracted to the sugar and seek  
it out, it's just that the sugar supports the growth of yeast that are  
already there.

Alex


> Jay Cutts
> Director, Cutts Graduate Reviews
> Lead Author, Barron's Test Prep Publications
> 800-353-4898 day or eve, 7 days
> (In NM, 505-281-0684)
>
>
>
> On 9/7/2011 9:20 AM, Maria Schumann wrote:
> > I think its like using raisins when you make a wine with no added
> > yeast-- the wild yeast is attracted to the raisins or in this case,
> > ginger.
> >
> > On Sep 7, 2011, at 8:37 AM, mIEKAL aND wrote:
> >
> > > Why the ginger with the yeast starter?
> > >
> > > On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 7:21 PM, Maria Schumann
> > > <mariaschu@vtlink.net>  wrote:
> > > > I make mine with wild yeast-- leave a cup with grated ginger and
> > > > sugar and water on the kitchen counter for 3 or 4 days, and then use that



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