Wednesday, September 18, 2013

A food technology topic of interest

Inspired by the recent gift of a yoghurt making kit* that involves re-hydrating a mix that evidently contains freeze dried yoghurt making bacteria, I have become interested in the fact that you can freeze dry bacteria in the first place.

Isn't that a little surprising?

My self education, and yours, can perhaps begin with this paper.

I also am now wondering whether life spread throughout the universe via the accidental dispersal of freeze dried yoghurt mix from an alien spaceship that exploded.   Or perhaps they just littered and threw the empty foil packet out the hatch after making a batch of Xerthian Noobleberry. It's a theory...

*  (yes I know, Tim, you can make yoghurt just by breeding more of it from shop bought yoghurt.)

2 comments:

TimT said...

What - you mean we are *all yoghurt*, the accidental offspring of a galactic lacto-bacilli cartel?

Now that's a cool theory.

TimT said...

Currently I'm searching for a heirloom yoghurt culture. The sort that you can keep reculturing for centuries. Most yoghurt cultures you buy (or reculture from shop yoghurt) are taken from just one single strain of bacteria and they tend to become weak and unworkable after a few reculturings. It annoys me that after patiently keeping my culture going for six months or a year, all of a sudden I find I'm going to have to buy some more from the shop!

Anyway, I just need to find a heirloom culture supplier in Australia.