Okay, being real though, no starter is more than a few months to a year old.
And that’s being generous. The yeast changes enough over time that pretending that taking a spoonful from some magic batch to make a new culture isn’t gong to end up with the same local yeast, and the yeast from the flour used to feed the culture being dominant is just that, pretending.
And that’s just the yeast. The lactobacilli are going to change over time too.
Without refrigeration, the process is fast enough that just mutation will change the culture over a few months. Will it change so much you won’t be getting consistent results? No, obviously.
But there’s no fucking magic in an old culture. There’s been enough microscopy and genetic testing of sourdough now to show that.
Mind you, I am still emotionally attached to my culture and would be upset if it died without me being able to save a tablespoon full to start the next. So I get the romance of a hundred year old culture that’s never died. It’s cool as fuck, but it isn’t really the same microbes unchanged the entire time. Hell, just switching bakers can change a culture because of the yeast on our skin being slightly different.
Okay, being real though, no starter is more than a few months to a year old.
And that’s being generous. The yeast changes enough over time that pretending that taking a spoonful from some magic batch to make a new culture isn’t gong to end up with the same local yeast, and the yeast from the flour used to feed the culture being dominant is just that, pretending.
And that’s just the yeast. The lactobacilli are going to change over time too.
Without refrigeration, the process is fast enough that just mutation will change the culture over a few months. Will it change so much you won’t be getting consistent results? No, obviously.
But there’s no fucking magic in an old culture. There’s been enough microscopy and genetic testing of sourdough now to show that.
Mind you, I am still emotionally attached to my culture and would be upset if it died without me being able to save a tablespoon full to start the next. So I get the romance of a hundred year old culture that’s never died. It’s cool as fuck, but it isn’t really the same microbes unchanged the entire time. Hell, just switching bakers can change a culture because of the yeast on our skin being slightly different.