organic grape starter

Jerry Hughes

Last summer I made to starters from organic grapes. I read about this in a book by Nancy silvermann.

the first was made from Spanish grapes:
 about twp cups of ( unwashed grapes, stems and all)
a cup or two of water ( not tap, no chlorine)
and high gluten white bread flour ( I use King Arthur)
put in a blender un till all grape stuff is thouroughly intergrated.
It takes about 2 weeks of feeding 50% water and 50% flour to get the starter active- but oh! my what a flavour

My question is: recently one of my starters has developed a MOLD - I take it that I have been invaded with a sourdough virus- should I throw this out? start over or scrape off the mold? any ideas
Jerry

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Replies

Adam Witt 2009 March 6
I would start over again. A good sourdough culture is resilliant to foreign bacteria or molds unless it is left unattended for more than several months. Start the sourdough with a chease-cloth and once it is established, keep it in a sealed container in the refridge.  Good luck, Adam
Millciti's picture
Millciti 2009 March 18
We used grapes and strawberries to obtain our cultures for mold in microbiology, because a variety of molds are so prevalent on the skins. Are you still adding any grapes to your culture? If so, I would discontinue that because you are just reinforcing the mold in your culture. Otherwise I am with Boris, you should be able to keep your culture. Just scrape it off, use a clean jar, put some of your culture in the jar and refresh it. Boris that rye mold is pretty interesting...wonder what species it is? Terri
Jerry Hughes 2009 March 18
since finding mold- I have since scraped off the mold, replenish with flour and water every time I use. almost daily now. The breads are great- i guess I need to get the camera out- I am looking at doing some rye breads- tothis point mostly French type breads and some whole wheats. Jerry

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