Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter - experiment 1 "Gwendolyn"

Adapted from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz.

28, January 2011

Mixed 1.5 cups rye flour with 1.5 cups tap water in ~4 cup mason jar. Covered with ~4 layers of cheesecloth secured with a rubber band. Left on lanai overnight.

(I noticed that the mixture doesn't taste very much like rye. Could Island Naturals have put the wrong flour in that bin?)

29, January 2011 - day 2

About 24 hours later, some bubbles on top. Mixed the solution with a wooden spoon. About 4 hours after that the entire solution was bubbly and almost expanded to the top of the jar. Mixed solution again, causing the volume to decrease, and left out overnight. I hope that it will be cool enough to prevent the solution from overflowing the jar. The mixture already tastes and smells a little sour.

(Katz's book says that it might take 2-3 days for wild yeasts to colonize the starter. There must be much wild yeast in this tropical air! Go, go Hawai'ian yeast!)

30, January 2011 - day 3

Not much activity overnight. Added about 2 tablespoons of rye flour, mixed, and left all day. In the evening, didn't see much activity again, but the mixture (= Gwendolyn) smells and tastes sour.

31, January 2011 - day 4

No signs of activity this morning. Very sour tasting! Mixed in about 2 more tablespoons rye flour.

1, Febrary 2011 - day 5

Very little activity overnight. In morning, added 1/4 cup each water and rye flour; mixed with bamboo spoon.

Cacao Keikis (or pre-keikis)

30, December 2010

We received a gift of a cacao pod at the farmer's market with the instructions: suck off the pulp from the seeds and put in some dirt.

We opened the pod and sucked as much of the yummy pulp off the seeds as we could. Not knowing if any would grow, we put some potting soil in a couple of egg cartons and planted 24. My lab partner planted his all in with the pointy-ish side of the seed down. I planted the seeds in random orientations. We also planted 4 seeds in a larger pot with more dirt.

Reading http://agroforestry.net/scps/Cacao_specialty_crop.pdf I learn that cacao seeds like to be moist and should germinate in 10 days.


5, January 2011 - 6 days

Germination after 6 days. Well, two of the seeds have ventured out of the soil. One is much more pinkish than the other. (And at least one was planted with the pointy-ish side down.)


6, January - 7 days

A few more sprouts spotted today. But a slug (or something) chomped off the pretty pink sprout. Grrr...! Some of the sprouts are pure white, some have pink tips. We pulled the containers up to the lanai overnight to deter slug feasting.

9, January - 10 days

10 days was supposed to be the germination time, so it seems like a good time for an inventory. We are curious about the sprouts - they tend to shoot up then back down, making us wonder if they are really roots? Time will tell... Here's the current status.

container 1:from upper right: A. nothing, B. white poking down, C. light pink poking down, G. white poking down, H. yellowish pointing down, I. white poking down

container 2:

From upper right: A. white with pink tip pointing down, B. yellowish poking up, C. nothing G. dark pink eaten but still growing! H. white poking down I. nothing- plus one pinkish offscreen (D)

container 3:

A. pink pointing up, B. pinkish pointing down, C. white poking down, D. nothing

20, January - 21 days

All have set out a root-stem! Some are still below surface, though, and one is upside-down (the runt?) So cute!

21, January 2011 - 22 days


Lift-off!

28, January 2011 - 29 days


Showing its pretty, lacy new leaves!