Roy wrote:

>>is anybody interested in South
>>Indian Idli! Sourdough rice and beans dumpling?! I'm on it!
>>
>>
>
>
>Indian sourdough?. Or what makes idli batter from the other...A
>fascinating subject to discuss from the microbiological point and how
>it differs from the standard sourdough we know in the west.
>In particular idli batters.. See.this referrence
>Venkatasubbaiah,P. Dwarakanath C.T. and Srinivasa Murthi.
>W.investigated the microbiology in the early 1980's and published the
>results in Journal of Food science & Technology,21:59-62.This study was
>also quoted Jalal Qarooni in Flat Bread Technology puiblished by
>Chapman and Hall in 1996
>The suggested that coliform organism are involved in the enzymatic
>conversion of starch to sugars to be used the lactic acid bacteria and
>wild yeasts.
>This seems surprising at first as coliforms are associated with fecal
>matter and how did it come to the microbial flora of idli. Maybe they
>are not pointing a finger to Eschrerichia Coli but other forms of
>enterobacteriaceae such as the Yersenia,Serratia and Proteus species
>which are ,more hamless( and less notorious from the pathological
>point of view.
>The wild yeast were identified as Trichosporum pullulans, Torulopsis
>holmii and T. Candida.. The bacteria that responsible for gassing and
>acidification was identified as leuconostoc mesenteroides which is the
>predominant lactobacteria.
>Now if we compare this with Injera which according to that book by
>Qarooni to contain in addition to the lactobactera and wild yeast
>strain of candida specie;; var. guillermonde in addition also had a
>substantial fungal population derived from Teff which are from the
>Aspergillus,Pullularia and Penicillium.. Extraneous presence of other
>yeast strains were also discovered in the Ethiopian Injera such as the
>Rhodotorula and Hormodendrum species
>Roy
>
>
>
This is what I find interesting! The basic materials used for a
sourdough starter favor a particular balance of organisms, and location
(e.g., closer to Equator vs. San Francisco) - a mix of science,
folklore, art, and ecology!

When I started making cheese, C.H.I.P.S was the only site that had some
of the expen$ive books I wanted - and the Qarooni book you mentioned is
also available: http://www.chipsbooks.com/flatbred.htm