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My Saturday morning has been spent mostly reading about wild yeast. I've been interested in this topic for a week or so. Today I've been reading about wine-making wild yeast. Below is the link to a typical article I've been reading:
http://www.enologyinternational.com/yeast/wildyeast.html
The biggest hassle for me has been becoming familiar with the lingo these winemakers use on an everyday basis. After I read the descriptive terms enough times, however, it's getting to where I'm recognizing the more common yeast names. According to a couple of the articles I've read, only about 1% of the kinds of yeast they expect exist are labeled and categorized. That allows for a lotta wiggle room for experimenting with these fungi.
Much of the discussion that I've read in regard to using wild yeast to make wine as opposed to using commercial yeast to make wine has been basically an argument between capitalists and purists. In the end, the wild yeast are going to lose out to the same yeasts the capitalists use to inoculate their musts (grape juice) with from the git go.
Apparently, it's the complexity of the taste that the wild yeast adds to the fermenting juice that cause the winemakers to choose to let it happen naturally. The story is that sometimes the wild yeast take too much time to get going, and bad things happen to good intentions.
If the fresh pressed grape juice is inoculated from the start with the commercially produced yeast, then doing that prevents those negative developments from showing up. Despite that, some reputable, highly regarded wineries only ferment using the wild yeasts that make the taste unique.
It's interesting to me to read about how wild yeast comes into play in the wine industry. I've only tried to make some wine once with my brother. It didn't turn out so good. It never fermented, and we ended up with some real sweet grape juice. Too sweet to enjoy drinking. A little bit went a long way.
As a matter of fact, the two kinds of kefir I'm making these days is the only fermenting I remember ever doing. Even so, it seems like I'm learning a little more about fermenting edible products in general than I ever thought I would. For instance, I had no idea that pickles are a fermented product. I sort of knew soy sauce is created through fermentation, but not miso. The taste of miso is one the finest tastes I enjoy. I like it so much I might even try to make my own one day.
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