Yeasty Goodness

[Sukerkin]

But just what is it? The surprising answer is that yeast is more a process than an organism:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com...-great-for-5000-years-but-what-exactly-is-it/

 

[Takai]

A lot less "scientific" but here it is in another "vein"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Beer_Saved_the_World

 

[oftheherd1]

I remember reading several years ago in either Archaeology or Biblical Archaeology, of a poem that had been discovered that was thought to be a recipe for producing beer. I don't recall now where in the ancient world it was found.

I do remember I thought it was either obscured to prevent none artisans from understanding it, or used words that wouldn't be understood the same way today.

I have always suspected that bread was prepared and dried as a way of preserving the bread, and when some of it got wet a little too long, well, there you were. A little refinement of technique and the rest was history. But I have nothing to back that up. It's just my thought.