I can't stop catching wild yeasts! Aaaaarrgh.

[PreggieUBA2C]

I have never had this happen before, but right now, during our first spring on this property, I can't make yogurt or ferment any vegetables without catching wild yeast.

I tried keeping the yogurt bowl covered and pouring the milk and yogurt starter in quickly from a side, quickly closing it and then covering the whole thing with a thick kitchen towel, but it still happened even in that few seconds it took to pour the ingredients.

Has anyone else dealt with this? I don't like the taste of yeasty fermented broccoli stems or carrots or beans, OR yeast-cultured milk (it's supposed to be yogurt!!!).

I am hoping it's just seasonal and that I can get back to my usual fare soon. Friends told us that they are easily catching wild yeasts for their bread right now, which is delicious and sweet, but I'm not making bread...

I am thinking that this may be my opportunity to make some mead though.

[Magelet]

Maybe I should try to catch my own sourdough starter right now (I have a starter, but because I didn't start it, I don't have emotional attachment to it. Also, DP does most of the baking atm.)

No advice on the ferments, except to wait out the yeastiness.

[ursusarctos]

Hmm, mead, interesting. You should totally make some and tell us how it turns out Over here people drink it on May Day (not that it's made with real honey ), so I wonder if mead is a traditional Spring thing? I suppose it would make sense if the wild yeasts sort of "wake up" after the winter...

[Magelet]

they don't make it with wild honey? I always thought they did. (homemade mead, obviously, has a lot of honey. makes it horribly expensive. DP's recipe is 22 lbs of honey for 5 gallons mead)

[ursusarctos]

Magelet, they might well have made mead with wild honey in the past, but nowadays if people make it at home they usually just use sugar. With a few raisins thrown in for good measure And of course the store brands are little more than flavored fizzy sugar water.

That is a lot of honey!

I'm kind of curious though, I always though honey was collected in the fall - would spring mead then have been made with the honey left in the "bottom of the barrel"?

[Metasequoia]

Did you get a powdery white coating on the surface of your ferments?

I was getting that, along with a strong yeasty smell last summer. I just kept skimming the white off and continued to eat the ferments, but it's not ideal.

I hope I can ferment stuff this summer w/o the yeastiness.