The sourdough craze has gone way too far this time!
According to CBS News, scientists in Italy just made sourdough out of yeast from a 5,300-year-old frozen mummy’s gut! Yes, you read that right! Long before the Egyptians built the pyramids, Oetzi the Iceman was reportedly walking through the Alps on the border of Austria and Italy when he was struck by an arrow in the back and died. He remained frozen in the ice until two German hikers found his mummified remains in 1991.
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Since then, scientists have been studying his body — and they made a shocking discovery! He had yeast growing in his frozen body for thousands and thousands of years! Mohamed Sarhan of the Eurac Research Institute in Bolzano, the lead author of a study on this find published in the journal Microbiome on Wednesday, told Reuters:
“His body hosts living, metabolically capable organisms that are actively responding to their environment. The cold-adapted yeasts are growing. Certain bacteria have colonized and persisted across his tissues for decades. The mummy is, in a very real sense, a living biological interface — a meeting point between the ancient world and the present, where microbes from 5,000 years ago coexist with organisms that arrived last decade.”
What did they do following the discovery? As Sarhan put it:
“If you tell anyone you have yeast, they immediately ask: can we use it for bread?”
OMG! And so the scientists made a sourdough loaf! Sarhan shared that “it didn’t work” at first, but they succeeded three months later! The microbiologist then shared that they “had a very, very good sourdough.” Yeah, they ate it! So gross! They’re also not done using the mummy yeast! When asked if they thought about brewing beer next, Sarhan replied:
“It’s on the list.”
Oh jeez, we don’t want to know what else is on that list! Is this how the zombie apocalypse begins??
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