Ancient yeast from a frozen mummy still bakes bread
After 5,300 years in an Alpine glacier, microscopic fungi found on the skin of Ötzi the Iceman were revived to create a functional sourdough starter.
When hikers stumbled upon the mummified remains of Ötzi the Iceman in 1991, they discovered a Copper Age traveler preserved perfectly by a glacier. While his body offered a window into life in 3300 BCE, his microbiome proved to be a living time capsule. Among the bacteria on his skin were viable, cold-loving yeasts that had remained dormant but alive throughout five millennia of deep freeze.
Continue Reading in App
2 more paragraphs · plus a 3-question quiz