sca-cooks Me

[James and/or Nancy Gilly]

Sharon L. Harrett wrote:

>         A thread has been heating up on my other listserver and I would like
> to ask you all your opinions. The discussion is on "yeast", for brewing and
> baking. The argument seems to be split between those who believe that
> "yeast" was unknown in period and therefore should not be used in any
> authentic period cooking, baking or brewing. The other side is that although
> folks in period did not neccessarily call their leavening "yeast" we know
> now that most starters work because wild yeasts have taken up residence in
> them, and that therefore to ensure a quality product for SCA consumption it
> would not be a leap of logic to use packaged yeast for baking and brewing.
> Comments?
> thanks
> Ceridwen

I don't see what the problem is with using commercial yeast. It provides
a reasonably sure, unmutated yeast culture that does the job with a
greater level of consistency than any sourdough can. Sourdough is a
southern European thing anyway, and while it is very ancient, you cannot
assume all baking was done that way. Northern European recipes generally
call for barm, which is a byproduct from brewing ale, using a
top-fermenting ale yeast.

While this must at one time have been developed from wild yeasts, the
ale recipes often call for adding an existing yeast starter. Considering
the amounts produced by some of the brewing recipes, and the records of
the disappointment expressed when a feast day's entire batch of ale or
beer turned out to be bad, I wouldn't think they'd want to mess around
taking chances

By the way, where do people think the little blocks of fresh yeast,
wrapped in foil, come from? If you read the label carefully, you'll
generally find that much of it is produced by a subsidiary of
Anheuser-Busch.

Q.E.D.

Adamantius