At 06:15 PM 7/30/2004, Fred wrote:
[...]
>I can't help but think his starter has
>become just like my starter over a period of time. Is there a point in
>importing a starter?

Probably yes, if you consider the time it takes to establish a good starter
and a certain randomness involved with the process of growing your own.

One thing I would like to point out however, in what your experience is:

Isn't it interesting that the same organisms (LB SF) have been found to be
dominating in established sourdoughs all over the world?

Could it be that the environment you are providing (grain products and
water) will over time allow the sourdough specific organisms to prevail (i.
e. outcompete all the other's)?

As a matter of fact, research has found that the LB SF's are able to
outcompete other organisms due to their properties:

"It appears that the LB SF's high capacity to metabolize maltose very
rapidly is the cause for the prevalence of this organism in continuously
propagated sourdoughs."

(That's somewhere in the http://samartha.net/SD/SourdoughDefinition.html
with a reference to the research document.)

If you think, the environment you provide for your sourdough: continuous
supply of watered grain products (starches and sugars) - where else in
nature does it exist?

On grapes, perhaps? ;-)

Fact is that so far, they (LB SF, and LB pontis) have nowhere been found in
nature except in established sourdoughs.

So, maybe there is a chance with your sourdough, that the typical sourdough
organisms for the environment (grain and water) have established themselves.

As for your increased acidity - the ratios and activities (mainly acid
production) of the two dominating organisms (yeast and LB bacteria) can
easily be influenced by the processing parameters such as temperature,
hydration, inoculation amount etc.

With this, may I propose an alternative perspective to your "my sourdough
is location specific" view in that what you are seeing is continuously
propagated sourdough specific and only dependent on processing parameters
independent from your location?

Samartha





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