Yeast Magic

Nimue Brown

Sep 9

(Nimue)

Yeast is at the heart of settled human civilization. Staying put gave us steady grain supplies, but yeast is the wild magic that turns grain into bread and beer. Given what a tiny organism it is, I wonder how our ancestors through history related to this magical entity that shows up and makes good things happen. I'm aware of stories that identify mead and wine as gifts of the gods.

Fermentation leading to alcohol gives us pleasure, relief from pain, relaxation and comfort. It invites jollity, and while it can cause all kinds of problems I feel that has more to do with how we now collectively use it than anything else.

Fermentation in the bread making process helps us digest grains and get maximum nutrition from them. This again is a huge gift, and is why bread has been such a valuable staple for humans.

I don't have a good relationship with wheat, and have had to cut back on grains significantly in recent years as a consequence. However, recent reading has led me to the possibility that the problem is less the grains, more the fast, modern yeasts. To test this, I'm experimenting with sourdough. I'm one of those rare people who did not start making sourdough bread in lockdown.

The wild yeast is part of my environment. It's in the air and on my skin. I already have a physical relationship with it. Being an animist, I talked to the wild yeast as I was setting up my starter, inviting it to live in the space I was making and asking it to work with me. Within twenty fours hours, I had bubbles and it was clear that the yeast had indeed moved in. I look forward to working with the yeast as a collaborator in my kitchen and in my cooking. I look forward to exploring the relationship between yeast and the friendly bacteria I need to maintain in my own digestive system.

It's one of those processes that reminds me how intensely collaborative it is being alive and having a body. Bacteria play a huge role in human existence. The relationship between friendly bacteria and the yeast in the bread may be an important one. We're constantly interacting with all kinds of things too tiny for us to see. I find that magical, and a source of wonder.

A wild thing has come to live in my kitchen, and if we work together, I might be able to heal more of my troubled body and create things of joy and delight. Everyday magic.