Fungi -- Our Friend

To start off this week’s blog, I needed to start from the very beginning. I had heard of many terms, but didn’t know exactly what they were or how they were used.

First, what is SCOBY? SCOBY is short for “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast” (Link). Although I knew SCOBY was used for the fermentation process of kombucha, I didn’t understand it’s importance in the process. We were instructed to feed our scoby with sugar, to allow it to grow. The bacteria and yeast eat away at it and convert it to alcohol, CO2, and acids which give kombucha its characteristic fizziness and flavor. 

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A picture of my SCOBY from class. I constructed a pyramid with my group for my SCOBY to grow on.

 

Second, what is yeast? It’s a fungus that grows as single-cell organisms. This is different from mushrooms, which are multicellular (Hsu). I found the videos pertaining to mushrooms this week really interesting, especially The Amazing World of Mycelium by Paul Stamets. Stamets talked about how mycelium networks are so similar to neural networks and how we are able to see the traveling of what is hypothesized to be DNA packets. This is similar to how electrical impulses travel in neurons to transmit information (Stamets). I learned that there are vast networks of these mycelium that are interconnected to various plants. They each feed off of each other in a cycle of CO2 and O2. It shows how similar we are to something as simple as plants and that we are more dependent on each other than we realize. I also really enjoyed the Tedtalk “My Mushroom Burial Suit” given by Jae Rhim Lee. Lee talked about all the different toxins that humans are regularly exposed to throughout their lifetimes and how dangerous it can be. Even during death, we continue to pollute the Earth as we use preservatives and conduct cremations. How can we do that to an Earth that sustains us – gives us a place to live, food to eat, water to drink. The Infinity Burial Project would use fungi to decompose bodies and clean it of toxins. From dust we came and to dust we shall return (Lee). It shows how connected we are to our environment. We aren’t competitors like I originally thought. We coexist and depend on the Earth, just like the bacteria and yeast do in kombucha to allow for fermentation. 

I found it interesting how important wheat was to the Ancient Egyptians. It was used to bake bread which was then used as a funeral offering to pharaohs to ensure they were nourished enough to make the journey to the afterlife (Nawar). The ingredients to make bread include wheat, water, salt, and yeast, which is surprisingly simple. This is probably why it was so integral to many cultures. It was easy, cheap, and nourishing. There is a specific taste that yeast brings to bread, that leaves almost a sour taste in my mouth. In Indian cultures, we use this bread to dip into other dishes to create different textures.

What does yeast do in bread? Yeast eats up the different sugars in flour and releases carbon dioxide, which allows the bread to rise (“Science”). I saw this process take place when I made bread as well. It was fascinating to see the dough double in size over a short time period. It makes you wonder how much carbon dioxide was released to cause that size increase. The chemical process allows for us to get nourishment and to experience different tastes and textures.

Part 2:

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A picture of my dough before it had risen.

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A picture of my bread after I had baked it and cut it in half. It tasted a little sour, but it was delicious with a little bit of butter

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Picture of my SCOBY today after I fed it sugar earlier in the week.

 

Works Cited

Hsu, Charolette. “Meet Baker's Yeast.” UB Now: News and Views for UB Faculty and Staff - University at Buffalo, University of Buffalo, 13 July 2020, https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2020/07/yeast.html. 

 Lee, Jae Rhim. “My Mushroom Burial Suit.” Jae Rhim Lee: My Mushroom Burial Suit | TED Talk, TED Conferences, LLC, July 2011, https://www.ted.com/talks/jae_rhim_lee_my_mushroom_burial_suit?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare. 

Link, Rachael. “Kombucha Scoby: What It Is and How to Make One.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 22 Oct. 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/kombucha-scoby#selection. 

Nawar, H. Collective bread diaries: cultural identities in an artificial intelligence framework. AI & Soc 35, 409–416 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-019-00882-2

“Science of Bread: Bread Science 101.” Exploratorium, https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/bread_science.html#:~:text=Once%20reactivated%2C%20yeast%20begins%20feeding,aromas%20we%20associate%20with%20bread. 

Stamets, Paul. “The Amazing World of Mycelium: Paul Stamets.” Youtube, Scienceandnonduality, 22 Nov. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpCERNXtvMA&ab_channel=scienceandnonduality.