I've been slowly brewing away with some thoughts over the years.... Starters and their differences. Why is it that sometimes a weak rising sourdough starter culture will bounce back quickly (too quickly) and suddenly "stabilize" after chilling or a near death experience?
I have a timing theory thinking the yeasts might have syncronized their life cycles through temperature control and also the idea that perhaps getting the desired yeasts to spore (hibernate) and then wake up the correct yeast using the same selected bacteria group to do the job. I have always (still do hopefully) kept my ears and eyes open for explanations.
I was pointed to a podcast on research extending life spans recently and the mention that yeasts were also affected perked up my ears. Why not? I began to think about it more and more and it made sense. Maybe this was one explanation for what I was observing. Longevity of yeast perhaps. That the yeast were living longer budding more and producing more gas in their life spans before dying letting the next generations take over. The peaks that stay peaked for longer periods of time after feeding the neglected starter. Hmmm. Puts the expression "never starve a starter" into question.
There is also lots of other information in the interview like a quick mention that 2% sugar intake shortened life span by 20% which also could be applied to yeasts. I wonder what the details are there? The BBC Podcast features Prof. Cynthia Kenyon, director for the Hillblom Center for Aging, Univ of Calif. San Fran. Topic: Latent capability to extend lifespan.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/discovery/discovery_20101027-1032a.mp3
Toward the end of the interview, I was struck by our own TFL member diversity and how contributions from so many have enriched the site. Listen and enjoy!
"Lay back and bake at TFL!"
