Warren > writes:

> Dominic T. wrote:
> >
> > [...I'm leery of lots of fermentation processes...]
>
> I've been doing that for many years with no ill effects... Kefir,
> Mead, Beer, Yoghurt, and now I've been researching Kombucha to start
> kitchen production as well. While I know there was a little tongue in
> cheek in your response, you have to be pretty, um.... unsophisticated,
> to not follow common sense sanitary protocols to end with a harmful
> result. Even bad batches of beer won't kill you, just taste nasty.
>
> Frankly I've seen people eat things that I wouldn't go near with a ten
> foot pole, but I've never had a problem with any of the fermented
> foodstuffs I've made. Just my $0.03 (due to the weak US dollar).

Look, I'm a fermentation fan myself, and I don't want to cause undue
anxiety, but the fact that you don't get immediately sick from these
things is only part of the story. There are fermentation byproducts
that raise your chance of eventually getting cancer. Certainly not in
all fermentation, but the potential danger is not to be dismissed
airily. I'd love to call this off-topic, but it does happen in tea
manufacture sometimes.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html