Hey family!!
have an established starter which I had left in a pantry after a heavy feeding with the lid on quite tightly to slow it down as I wasn't anticipating baking for a while.
I live somewhere without a fridge and so i oftern keep my starter as "dormant" as posible between bakes (approx 1 week), the room temp can get quite hot (25degrees celcius). It's been working fine but I went to revive my starter to bake in a few days and it had been about a week and a half since feeding,
The starter had a little hooch on top, spelt veeeerrryy sour, had obviously fermented a bit very vinegary, and had developed a thin....membrane like disc on the top JUST like a kombucha scoby . Murky in colour but clear cellulose-like rubber and was very structurally strong. Took a good pull to tear it.
So, what is this? Is it normal?
Very very cool, buzzed me out for ages ?
Thank you community ❤
I have found that when you culture many things in one household, the organisms often "travel". After living in a place only a few months and actively making cultured foods (sourdough, kefir, kimchi,etc), I find my food seems to stay fresh longer. Fruit seems less likely to mold, food in the refrigerator stays fresh longer, etc.
So if you make kombucha (or ever have) in that dwelling, I am not surprised by what you report.
No refrigerator! That's rough! People in Korea (and elsewhere) used to bury food in the ground to keep it cool or in a local stream. As for sourdough, a stiff starter might fare better for those circumstances.
Sounds like a Vinegar Mother.
Poor yeast growth can encourage other little critters to take up home and in turn a healthy yeast growth will inhibit them.
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