Warren > writes:

> Lewis Perin wrote:
> > 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.
>
> I think a Kombucha discussion is on topic. But while I am familiar
> with the esters, etc, that are produced in fermentation, when we're
> talking Kombucha and other home fermented products, the levels are so
> low that it's practically immaterial. And it's not like I distill my
> kombucha to concentrate them, or drink gallons per day. While I
> understand your concern, it doesn't seem like it's a big deal (to me
> at least). Especially when there are populations of people who live to
> insane ages while drinking kombucha daily, and haven't shown any
> increase in cancer. They even credit their longevity to the
> consumption of kombucha and kefir (though I can't say there is any
> definitive proof of that relationship).

I wasn't thinking of Kombucha when I wrote that. Probably I should
have been more specific, but my impulse was to write "real tea", which
sounded kind of haughty, so I just wrote "tea". What I was really
thinking of was post-fermented teas: Pu'ers, Lu'Ans, and all the other
less famous ones.

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