Yeast survived for millenia inside a mummy, and can still be used to make bread.
About 5300 years ago, a Tyrolean man died after being shot in the shoulder with an arrow. His body was so well-preserved in the Alpine ice on the border of Italy and Austria that it was initially believed to be that of a recently deceased hiker. The man, dubbed the Iceman, or Ötzi, for the Ötzal Alps in which he was found, is the oldest known natural mummy.
In a study in the journal Microbiome researchers described the task of studying the microbiome of Ötzi's skin and stomach. Due to mishandling and storage issues, Ötzi's body contains modern-day microbes in addition to ones that have been identified as being from the Copper Age by DNA damage. Because the ancient microbes were adapted to the cold, they have survived not just Ötzi's thousands of years on ice, but subsequent storage at 21 degrees Fahrenheit. The team decided to see if the yeast could be used to make sourdough.
According to Livescience:
"It worked," study first author Mohamed Sarhan, a microbiologist at the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies in Italy, told Live Science. "As a dough, it was very very good."
Sarhan suggested that the yeasts from Ötzi could be cultivated commercially to make bread or even beer.
Previously:
• My old Lodge chicken roasting pan bakes sourdough loaves, pizza and fries chicken
• How to make sourdough starter at home
• It is national sourdough day, fools
